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HISTORY 



OF 



Rensselaer Polytechnic 
Institute 



1 8 2 4- 1 9 1 4 



/ ' BY 

PALMER C. kiCKETTS, E.D.,LL.D. 

PRESIDENT AND DIRECTOR OF RENSSELAER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE 

MEMBER OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF CIVIL ENGINEERS 

MEMBER OF THE INSTITUTION OF CIVIL ENGINEERS 

MEMBER OF THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY 



^ 



Bctt porfe 

JOHN WILEY AND SONS 

London: CHAPMAN & HALL, Limited 
1914 






Copyright, 1914 

BY 

PALMER C. RICKETTS 



Publishers Printing Company " 
207-217 West Twenty-fifth Street, New York 



i 



DEC 16 1914 

©C1.A387958 



TO THE MEMORY 

OF 

^ttpi)m ©an Men^sielaer 

AND 

^mo0 Caton 



PREFACE 

Having recently been compelled to write several 
brief historical sketches of the Institute, the writer 
became interested in its early history. In prepar- 
ing these narratives he found the official publica- 
tions giving the characteristics of the School at the 
time of its foundation to have become very rare. 
In fact, very few of them antedating 1840 are 
known to be in existence. For these reasons he 
determined to expand the sketches and publish a 
short history of the Institution which should con- 
sist largely of a description of the development of 
its curriculums. 

The student of the history of education will rec- 
ognize the importance of an account of the early 
methods of instruction pursued in an institution 
which was, at once, the first School of Science* and 
the first School of Civil Engineering to be estab- 
lished in any English-speaking country, and if the 
conceded originality of these methods be also con- 
sidered, it is believed that no excuse for the appear- 
ance of this somewhat condensed narrative will be 
thought necessary. 

Interesting information has been obtained from 
the recently discovered original minutes of the 
board of trustees for the twenty-five years immedi- 

* See Preface to the Second Edition. 



vi PREFACE 

ately following the founding of the School, which 
were believed to have been destroyed in the fire of 
1862, and the thanks of the writer are due the 
President and Secretary of the present board for 
placing at his disposal the minutes covering the 
period from 1862 until the present time. 

The author is also under obligation to Prof. 
Henry B. Nason for the loan of a number of the 
early circulars, to A. J. Weise, Esq., for the picture 
of the Van Der Heyden mansion; to James Irving, 
Esq., for that of the building on the Infant School 
Lot, and to Prof. William G. Raymond for the 
two photographs from which the pictures showing 
railroad and hydrographic work of students were 
taken. The Bibliography at the end of the last 
chapter shows other sources whence information 
has been obtained. P. C. R. 

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 
Troy, N. Y., January i, 1895. 



PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION 

Twenty years have elapsed since the appearance 
of the first edition of this history. Many changes 
have taken place in the Institute during this 
period. It has become a larger school; more 
courses of instruction are given; there are more 
teachers and more students, more buildings and 
larger ones, a far better equipment, and a larger 
endowment. Its field has been broadened and its 
standards for graduation have been raised. 

In the first preface, the Institute is said to be 
the first School of Science and the first School of 
Civil Engineering to be established in any English- 
speaking country. In the first chapter of this edi- 
tion it is shown that this statement should be 
modified; that there was one school established, as 
the Rensselaer School was, primarily for the teach- 
ing of Science, which antedated it by about two 
years, but which soon passed out of existence. It 
is, therefore, more correct to say that the Insti- 
tute is the first School of Science and the first 
School of Civil Engineering, which has had a con- 
tinuous existence, to be established in any English- 
speaking country. P. C. R. 

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 
Troy, N. Y., November, 1914. 



CONTENTS 



PAGE 

Chapter I. — The Foundation of the School i 

Scientific Instruction at the Beginning of the Nineteenth 
Century. Count Rumford's London Prospectus. Opinions 
of John Adams upon Scientific Instruction. School proposed 
by Thomas Jefferson. American Literary, Scientific, and Mil- 
itary Academy. Gardiner Lyceum. Rensselaer School. Let- 
ter of Stephen Van Rensselaer founding Rensselaer School. 

Chapter II. — Stephen Van Rensselaer and Amos Eaton . 15 

Ancestors of Stephen Van Rensselaer. Early Education. 
Military and Political Life. Erie Canal Commission. Regent 
of the University. Central Board of Agriculture. Geological 
Survey of the State. Educational Efforts. Tribute to his 
Memory. Amos . Eaton. Early Education. Student at 
Williams College. Admitted to the Bar. Lectures on Nat- 
ural Science. Lectures before the Legislature. Geological 
Surveys. Senior Professor at Rensselaer School. Tribute 
from the Board of Trustees. List of his Publications. Tribute 
from James Hall. 

Chapter III. — Act of Incorporation and Early By-laws . 31 

First Meeting of the Board of Trustees. Name given 
the School. Announcement of the Opening. Letter from 
Stephen Van Rensselaer. Enclosed By-laws. Act of Incor- 
poration. Curriculum. Degree Conferred. Cost of Tuition 
and of Living. Catalogue of 1826. 

Chapter IV. — ^Methods of Instruction. Preparation Branch 

Established , 44 

Distinct Characteristics of the School. Routine Work. 
Equipment of the Laboratories. Daily Exercises. Parliamen- 
tary Exercises. "Afternoon Amusements." Methods of 
Lancaster and Fellenberg compared with those of the School. 
Preparation Branch established. Curriculum of the Branch. 
Expenses of Students. 



X CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Chapter V. — Name Changed to Rensselaer Institute. Re- 
moval TO the Van der Heyden Mansion • • • • 59 

Botanical and Geological Excursions. Rensselaer School 
Flotilla. Prudential Committee created. District Branches 
established. Letter from Stephen Van Rensselaer. Free In- 
struction of County Students. Education of Women. Eaton's 
Opinions upon the Education of Women. Contributions of 
Van Rensselaer. Curriculum of 1831. Apparatus in 1830. 
President Nott. Letter from Stephen Van Rensselaer. Name 
' Changed to Rensselaer Institute. Removal to the Van der 
Heyden Mansion. Number of Students, 

Chapter VI.- — Establishment of the Department of Civil 
Engineering 71 

Early European Technical Schools. West Point Military 
Academy. Engineering in the Early Years of the Century. 
Term Civil Engineer originated. Canals. Railroads. Steam- 
ships. Water-wheels. Steam-power. Tunnels. Bridges. 
First Instruction in Engineering. Charter amended by the 
Legislature. Number of Trustees increased. Degrees of 
Bachelor of Natural Science and Civil Engineer conferred. 
First Class In Engineering graduated. First Civil Engineer- 
ing Circular. Examination Paper of 1835. Qualifications for 
Graduation in 1842. 

Chapter VII. — Reorganization of the School. The Rensse- 
laer Polytechnic Institute 89 

Fourth Act of Legislature. School placed under the 
Regents. Return to the Old Bank Place. Removal to the 
Infant School Lot. Inventory of Property. Number and 
Distribution of Students, 1829-43. Changes in the Faculty 
and Board of Trustees. Reorganization of the Curriculum 
by B. Franklin Greene. Degrees B.S. and C.E. conferred. 
Comparison with French Schools. Methods of Instruction. 
Schedule of Course in Civil Engineering. Schedule of Course 
in Natural Science. Text-books used. Name changed to 
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Tuition. Acts of Legisla- 
ture. Courses in Topographical, Mechanical, and Mining 
Engineering. Schedule of Course in Mining Engineering. 
Changes in the Faculty and Board of Trustees. 



CONTENTS xi 

PAGE 

Chapter VIII. — Destruction by Fires. More Land and New 
Buildings. Athletics io8 

The Fire of 1862. Main Building at Head of Broadway. 
Winslow Laboratory. The Shop. Courses in Natural Science. 
Mechanical Engineering and Mining Engineering abolished. 
Course in Science again established. Semi-centennial Celebra- 
tion. Changes in the Faculty. Williams Proudfit Observa- 
tory. Changed to Electrical and Testing Laboratory. Again 
changed to Department of Mechanics. Endowment Fund. 
William Howard Hart Professorship. Alumni Building. Gym- 
nasium on Broadway. Changes in Trustees and Faculty. 
Main Building destroyed by Fire. Warren Property bought. 
Carnegie Building. Walker Laboratory. Broadway Ap- 
proach. Tillinghast Gate at Avenue B. Club House Rensse- 
laer Union. Athletics. 

Chapter IX. — Russell Sage. Mechanical and Electrical 
Courses. Graduate Courses. '87 Gymnasium. . . . 134 

Russell Sage. Mrs. Sage gives $1,000,000. Mechanical 
and Electrical Courses established. Comparison of Engin- 
eering Courses. Russell Sage Laboratory. Act of 1907. 
Chemical Engineering. Graduate Courses and Degrees. 
R. P. I. Scholarships. Pittsburgh Scholarship. Charles Wig- 
gins Scholarship. Alfonzo Bills Scholarship. Sage Fellow- 
ships. Pittsburgh Building. Geological Collection. '86 Ath- 
letic Field. '87 Gymnasium. Hygiene and Physical Training. 
Compulsory Athletics. The Library. Carnegie Foundation. 

Chapter X. — Alumni and Student Organizations. Publica- 
tions. Statistics of Graduates 155 

Graduating Theses. Macdonald Prize. General Alumni 
Association. Local Associations. Student Publications. 
Polytechnic. Transit. Hand Book. Book of Songs. "Old 
Rensselaer." Institute Publications. Bulletins Engineering 
and Science Series. Fraternities. Other Student Organiza- 
tions. Student Council. Student Clubs. Musical Clubs. 
Press Club. Awards at Expositions. Coat of Arms. Number 
of Graduates. Degrees Conferred. Work of Graduates. 

Chapter XI. — Present-Day Equipment and Methods. Sta- 
tistics OF Students 172 

Amount contributed by the Founder. Assets in 1846. 
Contributions from the State. Various Funds. Alumni En- 



xii CONTENTS 

PAGE 

dowment Fund. Mechanical Laboratory Fund. Rebuilding 
Fund. Gift of Mrs. R. J. C. Walker. Of Andrew Carnegie. 
Of Mrs. Russell Sage. The Incas Mine. Bequests of Citizens 
of Troy. Assets in 19 14. Buildings. Scholastic Year. 
Methods of Instruction. Summer Courses. Summer Theses. 
Comparison of Courses. Number of Students. Their Distri- 
bution in the Various Courses. Number of Instructors. . 

Bibliography 185 

Appendix I. — Subjects for Examination in 1836. Qualifi- 
cations Demanded of Students in 1838 191 

Appendix II. — Schedules of Courses in 1854, 1866 and 1914 196 

Appendix III.^List of Grand Marshals 208 

Appendix IV. — Description of Laboratories in the Sage 

Building 209 

Appendix V. — Names of Successful Competitors for the 

Macdonald Prize 214 

Appendix VI. — Presidents of the General Alumni Associ- 
ation 214 

Appendix VII. — Total Assets for the Years 1902-14 . . . 215 

Appendix VIII. — Statistics of Graduates, Students and 

Teachers ...... 216 

Appendix IX. — Trustees and Instructors from 1824 to 1914, 
inclusive 218 

Appendix X. — Catalogue of Graduates with Degrees and 

Dates of Graduation 234 

Index 261 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



Old Bank Place Frontispiece 

Stephen Van Rensselaer Facing page 20 

Amos Eaton " " 21 

Van der Heyden Mansion " "28 

Building on the Infant School Lot .... " "28 

Main Building " " 29 

Ranken House " " 29 

Winslow Chemical Laboratory " " 32 

Old Gymnasium " " 33 

Alumni Building " " 33 

Proudfit Observatory and Laboratory ... " " 48 

Dormitory " " 64 

Club House " " 64 

Carnegie Building " "65 

Walker Chemical Laboratory " " 65 

Russell Sage Laboratory " " 80 

Approach at the Head of Broadway .... " " 81 

Pittsburgh Building " " 96 

'87 Gymnasium " " 96 

Views of Grounds " "112 

Perspective of Buildings on Campus .... " " 128 

Plan of Buildings " " 129 

Steam and Gas Engine Laboratories .... " "144 

Hydraulic Laboratory " " 145 

Part of Electrical Laboratory " "160 

Electrochemical Laboratory " "161 

Part of Photometric Laboratory " "176 

Testing Machine . .... " " 176 

Testing Machines " " 177 

Cement Mixing Laboratory " "192 

Interior View of Walker Chemical Laboratory " " 192 

Interior Views of Shop " " 193 

Some Members of the Faculty " " 208 

'86 Athletic Field and '87 Gymnasium .... " " 209 

Athletic Committee of the Rensselaer Union " " 224 

Student Council " " 224 

Board of Editors of the Polytechnic .... " " 225 

Glee Club " " 225 

Band and Orchestra " " 240 

Athletic Teams " " 241 



HISTORY 

OF 

RENSSELAER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE 

(1824-1914) 

CHAPTER I 

THE FOUNDATION OF THE SCHOOL 

At the beginning of the nineteenth century the 
study of the physical sciences in the United States 
was in its infancy. All branches were included 
under the terms Natural Philosophy and Natural 
History. Their meaning was not well defined, 
although under the latter was generally included 
all of what was then known of astronomy, physics, 
chemistry, botany, and geology. Scarcely any 
provision was made for scientific instruction in any 
of the colleges of the country. Astronomy, physics, 
chemistry, and botany had indeed been taught 
during the preceding century in a few institutions 
of learning, a department of Mathematics and 
Natural Philosophy having been created at Har- 
vard College as early as 1727, a professorship of 
Botany in Columbia College in 1792, and a chair 
of Chemistry at Princeton in 1795. Instruction 
had also been given in physics and chemistry at the 
University of Pennsylvania and Dartmouth College, 
and in physics at Union College. This short list, 

however, includes all the colleges which had given 

1 



2 HISTORY OF RENSSELAER INSTITUTE 

the physical sciences more than an insignificant 
place in their curriculums. Even in these the in- 
struction was given by lectures, supplemented at 
times by experiments which the teachers per- 
formed; and anything approaching laboratory 
work by the student was almost wholly unknown. 
When Prof. Silliman was elected, in 1801, to the 
chair of Chemistry, Geology, and Mineralogy at 
Yale College, he visited Dr. Maclean, who was pro- 
fessor of Chemistry at Princeton, and then for 
the first time saw experiments in chemistry per- 
formed.* Considering the state of scientific knowl- 
edge at this period and the general lack of oppor- 
tunity for the study of science even in Europe, it 
is not remarkable that this should have been the 
case in a new country the total population of which 
in the year 1800 scarcely exceeded that of the city 
of London to-day. 

With the general awakening to the value of the 
natural sciences, during the first quarter of the cen- 
tury, came provision for their study in other of the 
academic schools of the country. Within that time 
courses in various branches were inaugurated at 
Yale, Williams, Bowdoin, Dickinson, William and 
Mary, and Hobart Colleges, and in the universities 
of Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. 
Facihties for practical work by the students were 
still wanting in nearly all of them, though the ap- 
paratus used for illustration had grown in quantity 
and variety. A chemical laboratory, already men- 

* Education in the United States, Richard G. Boone. 



THE FOUNDATION OF THE SCHOOL 3 

tioned, was in existence at Princeton, one was fitted 
up at Williams College in 1812, and one at Harvard 
shortly after this date. A few others were also 
to be found. They were all, of course, crude and 
unpretending compared with those thickly scat- 
tered over the country to-day. Nor were the 
steps taken in the study of science always forward. 
Thus there was organized in the University of 
Pennsylvania, in 18 16, a department of Natural 
Science "with five professors; and annual courses 
of lectures, to be publicly delivered, were required 
by the regulations. The courses of instruction 
embraced natural philosophy, botany, natural his- 
tory, mineralogy, chemistry applied to agriculture 
and the arts, and comparative anatomy. The 
support given by the public, however, was not 
sufiicient to compensate for the efforts put forth, 
the professors were badly paid, and the department 
soon fell into neglect. It was abolished shortly 
after the establishment of the Franklin Institute, 
in 1824, which rendered, it was said at the time, 
such a department in the university 'unneces- 
sary.'" * 

The time had now come, not only for the addition 
of scientific courses to the curriculums of the insti- 
tutions of learning, but for a general diffusion of 
scientific knowledge among those who could not 
have the advantage of an education higher than 
that afforded by the common schools. Attempts 
in this direction had already been made in Europe. 

* Historical Sketch of the University of Pennsylvania, John L. 
Stewart. Circular No. 2, 1892, of the U. S. Bureau of Education. 



4 HISTORY OF RENSSELAER INSTITUTE 

When Count Rumford returned from Munich to 
London in 1795 he endeavored to interest the 
people of England, as he had those of Germany, 
in his plans for public and domestic economy, more 
particularly in the economical consumption of coal, 
improvements in the construction of fireplaces and 
the heating of buildings by steam. In 1799 he 
issued in London a prospectus entitled "Proposals 
for forming by subscription, in the metropolis of 
the British Empire, a public institution for dif- 
fusing the knowledge and facilitating the general 
introduction of useful mechanical inventions and 
improvements, and for teaching, by courses of 
philosophical lectures and experiments, the appli- 
cation of science to the common purposes of life." 
The result was the establishment, in the year 1800, 
of the Royal Institution of Great Britain, which 
had for its object the purposes outlined in his 
prospectus. 

Other men had not been blind to the benefits 
which would accrue to civilization if the people 
generally could be instructed in the application of 
science to the common purposes of life. Franklin's 
opinions upon this subject are well known. John 
Adams believed that the State should make pro- 
vision for this purpose, as is shown by the following 
extract from the Constitution of Massachusetts, 
of 1780, of which he was the principal author: "to 
encourage private societies and public institutions, 
rewards and immunities for the promotion of 
agriculture, arts, sciences, commerce, trades, man- 
ufactures, and a natural history ,of the country." 



THE FOUNDATION OF THE SCHOOL 5 

Jefferson also proposed a school of technical phil- 
osophy, to be maintained wholly at public expense, 
where certain of the higher branches should be 
taught in abridged form to meet practical wants. 
"To such a school," he wrote, "will come the 
mariner, carpenter, shipwright, pump-maker, clock- 
maker, machinist, optician, metallurgist, founder, 
cutler, druggist, brewer, vintner, distiller, dyer, 
painter, bleacher, soap-maker, tanner, powder- 
maker, salt-maker, glass-maker, to learn, as much 
as shall be necessary to pursue their art under- 
standingly, of the sciences of geometry, mechanics, 
statics, hydrostatics, hydraulics, hydrodynamics, 
navigation, astronomy, geography, optics, pneu- 
matics, acoustics, physics, chemistry, natural his- 
tory, botany, mineralogy, and pharmacy." * 

The influence of such opinions gave impetus 
to the diffusion of scientific knowledge among the 
people of this country. Although, as before shown, 
opportunities had been offered in various colleges 
and universities for the study of natural science 
and the Royal Institution for popular lectures on 
its various branches had been founded in England, 
there had not been in existence in either country a 
school originated avowedly for purposes of scientific 
instruction. During the first quarter of the nine- 
teenth century, however, three schools were es- 
tablished here for each of which the distinction has 
been claimed of being the first school created in any 

* Early History of the University of Virginia, as contained in the 
letters of Thomas Jefferson and Joseph C. Cabell. Edited by J. W. 
Randolph, Richmond, 1856. 



6 HISTORY OF RENSSELAER INSTITUTE 

English-speaking country for the purpose of teach- 
ing science. The earliest was established in Nor- 
wich, Vermont, in 1819, by Captain Alden Part- 
ridge, a graduate of the United States Military 
Academy and its Superintendent during the years 
1815-1817. It was called the American Literary, 
Scientific, and Military Academy, and it appears * 
to have been more of a military academy than a 
school of science. It was evidently modeled after 
the West Point school. The cadets lived in bar- 
racks, and were taken at as early an age as nine 
years. The curriculum included various languages, 
English literature, science, as much as was then 
known of engineering, and many military subjects, 
including military exercises. The Academy was 
moved from Vermont to Middletown, Connecticut, 
in 1825, and was incorporated in that State, but 
was disbanded in 1829. In the meantime, Cap- 
tain Partridge had left the Academy in 1827 and 
had opened in Norwich a small preparatory school. 
When the Academy was disbanded in Connecticut, 
he took its name again for his school, which in 
1834 was chartered by the legislature of Vermont 
as Norwich University, and, in 1866, the University 
was moved to Northfield, in the same State. 

The second school was incorporated under the 
name of the Gardiner Lyceum, in Gardiner, Maine, 
in 1822, and opened in 1823 by Benjamin Hale, 
who was graduated from Bowdoin College in 1818 
and who afterwards became President of Hobart 

* History of Norwich University, by William A. Ellis. Vol, I, pp. 
4-6, 13, 19-51. 



THE FOUNDATION OF THE SCHOOL 7 

College. In his inaugural address * delivered Jan- 
uary I, 1823, he said: *'It is the object of this 
institution to give instruction in those branches 
which are most intimately connected with the 
arts, and to teach them as the foundation of the 
arts." "It is not sufficient for them, as for the 
general scholar, to be taught the general laws of 
chemistry; they must be instructed particularly in 
the chemistry of agriculture and the arts. It is 
not sufficient for them to be able to repeat and to 
demonstrate a few of the general laws of mechanics ; 
they must be taught the application of the laws. 
They must be made acquainted with machines." 
The curriculum included various branches of pure 
mathematics, and natural science, mensuration, 
surveying, navigation, and theoretical and practi- 
cal mechanics. The Lyceum existed for about ten 
years. It was discontinued in consequence of the 
withdrawal of a legislative appropriation. 

The third school, which is the subject of this 
history, was founded in Troy, New York, by Ste- 
phen Van Rensselaer, of Albany, New York, in 
1824. It was called the Rensselaer School, and 
was originated for the purpose of teaching the 
"application of science to the common purposes of 
life." Detailed information regarding it, including 
its early curriculums, will be given in due course in 



* An Inaugural Address delivered at Gardiner, Me., January i, 1823. 
By Benjamin Hale, Principal of the Gardiner Lyceum, and Lecturer on 
Natural Philosophy. Hallowell. S. K. Gilman, Printer, 1823. A copy 
of this address, together with several other pamphlets relating to the 
Gardiner Lyceum, is in the Bowdoin College Library. 



8 HISTORY OF RENSSELAER INSTITUTE 

this history, and this reference is made at this time 
only to give the date of its foundation and its 
object, in order that a comparison may be made 
with the two schools previously mentioned. 

The primary object of the Norwich Academy was 
really not the teaching of applied science. It 
seems to have been a mixture of boarding-school, 
military academy, classical school, and scientific 
school. Evidently more applied science, and even 
engineering, as it was then known, was taught 
than was taught in the classical colleges of that day. 
But even if, after all the changes in name and 
place, Norwich University may be said to be the 
same school as the American Literary, Scientific, 
and Military Academy, it is more than doubtful 
whether it has any right to be called the first 
school of science to be established in this country. 
If it has a claim to this distinction, the West Point 
Military Academy, after which it was modeled, has 
a greater claim ; and this has never been made for it. 

Whatever honor may accrue from being the first 
school established in this country specifically for 
the purpose of teaching science belongs, I believe, 
to the Gardiner Lyceum, which was originated 
about two years earlier than the Rensselaer School, 
but which soon ceased to be. The Rensselaer 
Polytechnic Institute is, therefore, I believe, the 
first school of science and engineering, which has 
had a continuous existence, to be established in 
any English-speaking country. 

That the founder had definite ideas not only in 
relation to the purposes of the institution, but 



THE FOUNDATION OF THE SCHOOL 9 

also in regard to its general management and the 
methods of instruction to be pursued, is attested 
by a letter dated November 5, 1824, to the Rev. 
Samuel Blatchford, of Lansingburgh. It forms the 
first official notice of the foundation, and reads 
as follows: 

"Dear Sir: I have established a school at the 
north end of Troy, in Rensselaer county, in the 
building usually called the Old Bank Place, for the 
purpose of instructing persons, who may choose 
to apply themselves, in the application of science 
to the common purposes of life. My principal object 
is, to qualify teachers for instructing the sons and 
daughters of farmers and mechanics, by lectures or 
otherwise, in the application of experimental chem- 
istry, philosophy, and natural history, to agricul- 
ture, domestic economy, the arts, and manufac- 
tures. From the trials which have been made by 
persons in my employment at Utica, Whitesbor- 
ough, Rome, Auburn, and Geneva during the last 
summer, I am inclined to believe that competent 
instructors may be produced in the school at 
Troy, who will be highly useful to the community 
in the diffusion of a very useful kind of knowledge, 
with its application to the business of living. Ap- 
paratus for the necessary experiments has been so 
much simplified, and specimens in natural history 
have become subjects of such easy attainment, that 
but a small sum is now required as an outfit for 
an instructor in the proposed branch of science; 
consequently, every school district may have the 
benefit of such a course of instruction about once 



10 HISTORY OF RENSSELAER INSTITUTE 

in two or three years, as soon as we can furnish 
a sufficient number of teachers. I prefer this plan 
to the endowment of a single public institution 
for the resort of those only whose parents are able 
and willing to send their children from home or 
to enter them for several years upon the Fellen- 
berg plan. It seems to comport better with the 
habits of our citizens and the genius of our govern- 
ment to place the advantages of useful improve- 
ment equally within the reach of all. 

"Whether my expectations will ever be realized 
or not, I am willing to hazard the necessary ex- 
pense of making the trial. Having procured a 
suitable building advantageously located among 
farmers and mechanics, and having furnished funds 
which are deemed sufficient by my agent in this 
undertaking for procuring the necessary apparatus, 
etc., it now remains to establish a system of organi- 
zation adapted to the object. You will excuse me 
if I attach too much consequence to the under- 
taking. But it appears to me that a board of 
trustees to decide upon the manner of granting 
certificates of qualifications, to regulate the gov- 
ernment of students, etc., is essential. I, there- 
fore, take the liberty to appoint you a member 
and president of a board of trustees for this pur- 
pose. I appoint the following gentlemen trustees 
of the same board: The Rev. Dr. Blatchford and 
Elias Parmalee, of Lansingburgh ; Guert Van 
Schoonhoven and John Cramer, -Esqs., of Water- 
ford; Simeon De Witt and T. Romeyn Beck, of 
Albany; John D. Dickinson and Jedediah Tracy, 



THE FOUNDATION OF THE SCHOOL 11 

of Troy. And I appoint O. L. Holley, Esq., of 
Troy, and T. R. Beck, of Albany, first and second 
vice-presidents of said board. 

" As a few regulations are immediately necessary 
in order to present the school to the public, it seems 
necessary that I should make the following orders, 
subject to be altered by the trustees after the end 
of the first term. 

''Order i. The board of trustees is to meet at 
times and places to be notified by the president, or 
by one of the vice-presidents, in the absence or 
disability of the president. One-half of the mem- 
bers of the board are to form a quorum for doing 
business. A majority of the members present may 
fill any vacancy which happens in the board; so 
that there may be two members resident in Troy, 
two in Lansingburgh, two in Waterford, and two in 
Albany. The powers and duties of the trustees to 
be such as those exercised by all similar boards, 
the object of the school being always kept in view. 

^' Order 2. I appoint Dr. Moses Hale, of Troy, 
secretary, and Mr. H. N. Lockwood, treasurer. 

''Order 3. I appoint Amos Eaton, of Troy, pro- 
fessor of chemistry and experimental philosophy, 
and lecturer on geology, land surveying, and the 
laws regulating town officers and jurors. '^ This 
office to be denominated the senior professorship. 

"Order 4. I appoint Lewis C. Beck, of Albany, 
professor of mineralogy, botany, and zoology, and 
lecturer on the social duties peculiar to farmers 
and mechanics. This office to be denominated the 
junior professorship. 



12 HISTORY OF RENSSELAER INSTITUTE 

"Order 5. The first term is to commence on the 
first Monday in January next, and to continue fif- 
teen weeks. For admission to the course, including 
the use of the library and reading-room, each stu- 
dent must pay twenty-five dollars to the treasurer, 
or give him satisfactory assurances that it will be 
paid in one year. In addition to this, each section 
of students must pay for the chemical sub- 
stances they consume and the damage they do to 
apparatus. 

"Order 6. All the pay thus received by the 
treasurer, as for parts of courses of instruction, is to 
be paid over to said professors as the reward of 
their services. 

"Order 7. In giving the course in chemistry, the 
students are to be divided into sections, not 
exceeding five in each section. These are not 
to be taught by seeing experiments and hearing 
lectures, according to the usual method. But they 
are to lecture and experiment by turns, under the 
immediate direction of a professor or a competent 
assistant. Thus by a term of labor, like appren- 
tices to a trade, they are to become operative 
chemists. 

"Order 8. At the close of the term each student 
is to give sufficient tests of his skill and science be- 
fore examiners, to be appointed by myself, or by 
the trustees, if I do not appoint. The examination 
is not to be conducted by question and answer, 
but the qualifications of students are to be esti- 
mated by the facility with which they per- 
form experiments and give the rationale; and cer- 



THE FOUNDATION OF THE SCHOOL 13 

tificates or diplomas are to be awarded ac- 
cordingly. 

"Order 9. One librarian, or more, to be ap- 
pointed by the professors, will be keeper of the 
reading-room. All who attend at the reading- 
room are to respect and obey the orders of the 
librarian in regard to the library and conduct while 
in the room. 

"Order 10. Any student who shall be guilty of 
disorderly or ungentlemanly conduct is to be tried 
and punished by the president or vice-president and 
two trustees. The punishment may extend to 
expulsion and forfeiture of the school privileges, 
without a release from the payment of fees. But a 
student may appeal from such decision to the board 
of trustees. 

"This instrument, or a copy of it, is to be read 

to each student before he becomes a member of the 

school ; and he is to be made to understand that his 

matriculation is to be considered as an assent to 

these regulations. 

"Stephen Van Rensselaer. 
"Albany, Nov. 5, 1824." 

This document shows the aim of the founder of 
the Rensselaer School to have been substantially 
that of the originator of the Royal Institution, 
though the methods pursued in attaining the object 
sought were different. He was doubtless familiar 
with the work and writings of Rumford, and it will 
be noticed that he has used in his description of the 
purpose of the school the same expression found in 
the London prospectus of 1799 — "the application 



14 HISTORY OF RENSSELAER INSTITUTE 

of science to the common purposes of life."* At- 
tention will be given later to the peculiar methods 
of instruction outlined in this letter, and before 
proceeding with the history of the school a short 
account will be given of the lives of its founder 
and of another to whose talent as a teacher and 
scientific investigator the success of the school was 
largely due. 

* See the address of President James Forsyth in Proceedings of the 
Semi-Centennial Celebration of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 
1874. 



CHAPTER II 

STEPHEN VAN RENSSELAER AND AMOS EATON 

Stephen Van Rensselaer was the fifth in di- 
rect line of descent from KilHan Van Rensselaer, a 
merchant of Holland, who obtained by purchase 
from the Indians, about the year 1637, a district 
about twenty-four miles in breadth by forty-eight 
in length, comprising the territory which has since 
become the counties of Albany, Columbia, and 
Rensselaer, in the State of New York. He named 
it the Colony and Manor of Rensselaerwyck, and 
was its first Patroon. Stephen was born November 
I, 1764, in the city of New York. His father was 
Stephen Van Rensselaer, the seventh Proprietor or 
Patroon of Rensselaerwyck, and his mother was 
Catharine, the daughter of Philip Livingston. 
Upon the death of his father in 1769, the care of 
the estate, which fell exclusively to him by the 
law of primogeniture, devolved upon his uncle, 
General Ten Broeck, who also acted as guardian 
during his minority. He was at first sent to a 
school in Albany and afterwards to one in Eliza- 
bethtown. New Jersey. At the beginning of the 
Revolution he was removed to Kingston, N. Y., 
and acquired the elements of a classical education 
at the Kingston Academy. He was later sent to 
Princeton College, but in consequence of its prox- 

15 



16 HISTORY OF RENSSELAER INSTITUTE 

imity to the seat of war, it was thought advisable 
to send him to Harvard College, where he was 
graduated as a Bachelor of Arts in 1782, in the 
nineteenth year of his age. Returning to Albany 
he married, in 1783, a daughter of General Philip 
Schuyler, and upon reaching his majority settled 
down in the Manor House and took charge of his 
estates. By offering leases for long terms at a very 
moderate rent, he succeeded in bringing a large 
portion of his land into cultivation, but little of 
which had, until then, been converted into farms, 
and thus secured for himself a competent income. 

He was made a major of infantry in 1786, and 
when, in 1801, Governor Jay formed the cavalry of 
the State into a separate corps he was placed in 
command with a commission of major-general of 
cavalry. He was elected, as a federalist, to the 
Assembly of the State in 1789, and the next year 
became a State senator, which position he held 
until 1795, when he was chosen lieutenant-governor 
at the same time that John Jay was elected gov- 
ernor. He w^as lieutenant-governor for six years, 
and was nominated for governor in 1801, but was 
defeated by De Witt Clinton. In the same year 
he was a member of the constitutional convention, 
and presided over it during the greater part of its 
deliberations. He was again elected to the Assem- 
bly in 1807, and when, during this term, a project 
was agitated to appoint a commission for exploring 
a route for a western canal, he was strongly in 
favor of it. Having been appointed, in 1810, to 
serve on this commission, he, in company with the 



STEPHEN VAN RENSSELAER AND AMOS EATON 17 

other members, made an exploration of the route 
for a canal from the Hudson River to Lake Erie, 

When war with Great Britain was declared in 
1 812, he was given the command of the State 
militia, and on the 13th of October of that year 
assanlted and took the Heights of Queenstown, 
Canada, from which, however, he was compelled to 
withdraw by the refusal of the State militia, under 
the plea of constitutional scruples, to leave the 
State. His services in the field ended with this 
campaign, and in 1813 he was again nominated 
for governor, but was defeated by a small majority. 
In the meantime, the canal commission had con- 
tinued its existence, and in 1816, when the Legis- 
lature directed the construction of the Erie Canal 
and committed the execution of the work to a 
board of canal commissioners, he was made a 
member of that body, and was its president from 
April, 1824, until his death. He was again elected 
a member of Assembly in 1816, in 18 19 became a 
Regent of the State University, of which he was 
chancellor from 1835 until his death, and was a 
member of the constitutional convention of 1821. 

From his position as Patroon and because of the 
great extent of territory he possessed, as well as on 
account of his great intelligence and the benevo- 
lence of his nature, Stephen Van Rensselaer had 
always been strongly in favor of the encourage- 
ment of farmers and the improvement of agri- 
culture. When, therefore, in 1819, an act for the 
encouragement of agriculture was passed by the 
Legislature of the State, under the provisions of 






[^ 



18 HISTORY OF RENSSELAER INSTITUTE 

which delegates from county societies formed a 
Central Board of Agriculture, he was elected its 
president at the first meeting in Albany, in Janu- 
ary, 1820. Although the Hfe of the board was 
brief, it was long enough to permit a geological and 
agricultural survey of the counties of Albany and 
Rensselaer to be made under its direction, though 
at the expense of its president. This survey was 
executed by Prof. Amos Eaton with the aid of 
two assistants, and was the first attempt made in 
this country to collect and arrange geological facts 
with a direct view to the improvement of agricul- 
ture. Analyses of soils were included, as well as a 
consideration of the proper methods of culture 
adapted to them, and the results were published 
in three volumes of Transactions and Memoirs. 
Imbued with strong opinions as to the value of 
such scientific investigations, when the board 
ceased to exist Stephen Van Rensselaer was un- 
willing to discontinue work of this character, and 
in the years 1822 and 1823 he caused to be made, 
at his own expense, under the direction of Professor 
Eaton, a geological survey extending from Boston 
to Lake Erie, a distance of about five hundred and 
fifty miles. It embraced a belt fifty miles in 
width, which covered, in this State, the line of the 
Erie Canal. 

The intelligence and benevolence of the subject 
of this sketch were now, when he had reached the 
age of sixty years, to be directed into a new channel. 
He had long been interested in the instruction of 
the poorer families of his tenantry, and had reached 



STEPHEN VAN RENSSELAER AND AMOS EATON 19 

the conclusion that the most valuable education to 
be given the masses engaged in the ordinary occu- 
pations of life was one which would enable them to 
apply the principles of science to the "business of 
living." His first step in this direction was to se- 
cure the services of Professor Eaton, with whose 
qualifications he was thoroughly familiar. He em- 
ployed him, in the summer of 1824, to traverse the 
State on or near the line of the Erie Canal, provided 
with sufficient apparatus and specimens to deliver, 
in all the principal towns where an audience of 
business men or others could be collected, a series 
of lectures, accompanied with experiments and 
illustrations, on ''chemistry, natural philosophy, 
and some or all the branches of natural history." 
This undertaking was entirely successful. En- 
couraged by it, he determined to establish an in- 
stitution one of the principal objects of which 
should be "to qualify teachers for instructing the 
sons and daughters of farmers and mechanics, by 
lectures or otherwise, in the application of experi- 
mental chemistry, philosophy and natural history 
to agriculture, domestic economy, the arts, and 
manufactures"; and there resulted the foundation 
at Troy, N. Y., in 1824, of the school which is the 
subject of this historical sketch. He at first in- 
tended to sustain the school for three years only, 
expecting that, if at the end of this period it were 
successful, the public would maintain it. Besides 
the expense of its original establishment he bore, 
however, until his death fourteen years later, about 
one-half the cost of its maintenance. As will be 



20 HISTORY OF RENSSELAER INSTITUTE 

seen hereafter, the course of instruction was con- 
siderably enlarged, during his life and with his 
approval, to meet the growing demand for edu- 
cated engineers and scientific men. 

In the meantime, in 1823, General Van Rensse- 
laer had been elected to Congress as a Representa- 
tive from Albany county, and some of his instruc- 
tions in relation to the new school were forwarded 
from Washington. He continued in Congress for 
six years, and was during this period chairman of 
the Committee on Agriculture. During a part of 
his active public life, from 1793 until his resigna- 
tion in 1 8 19, he was a trustee of Williams College. 
In 1825 the degree LL.D. was conferred on him 
by Yale College. He died at the old Manor House 
in Albany on the twenty-sixth day of January, 
1839.* 

Although distinguished because of his position 
and character, and on account of many years of 
successful public service in important positions, 
the memory of Stephen Van Rensselaer will be per- 
petuated chiefly by means of the school which he 
established for the benefit of his fellow-men. 

In an article on the Institute, one of an interest- 
ing series on the engineering schools of the United 
States, written in 1892 for Engineering News by 
A. M. Wellington, he says: "The founder was not 
of the class of rich men who found colleges only 
from a vague philanthropic instinct and to per- 

* See " A Discourse on the Life, Services and Character of Stephen 
Van Rensselaer," by Daniel G. Barnard, Albany, 1839. 



I 



STEPHEN VAN RENSSELAER AND AMOS EATON 21 

petuate his name. He had distinct and very orig- 
inal and decided views as to proper methods of 
instruction, which he took great pains to provide 
for and enforce at length. His love of thorough- 
ness, his determination that the instruction should 
be of the best, if there was any, and that the school 
should take a high rank among the kindred insti- 
tutions of the world, crop out constantly in his 
letters and deed of foundation. . . . He was no 
common founder, and he founded no common 
school. The cause of engineering education owed 
much to him indeed." 

It will be noticed in the account just given of 
his life that in all his efforts for the advancement 
of scientific knowledge, whether by agricultural 
and geological surveys or by the more direct 
method of instruction, he employed one individual 
as his agent. That no error was made in the 
choice is proved by the uniform success of his en- 
deavors. 

Amos Eaton was indeed no ordinary man. The 
history of the last seventeen years of his life is iden- 
tical with that of the Rensselaer Institute. The 
importance of his work, however, not only in the 
early development of the school but as a scientific 
investigator and author of works on the natural 
sciences, renders it advisable to give, in this con- 
nection, a sketch of his earlier history. He w^as a 
native of Chatham, N. Y., and was born May 17, 
1776. His father, Abel Eaton, was a farmer in 
comfortable circumstances. He early manifested 
superior abilities, and was selected to deliver an 



22 HISTORY OF RENSSELAER INSTITUTE 

oration on the Fourth of July, 1790, when but 
fourteen years of age. About this time, having 
acted as chainman during a land survey, he deter- 
mined to become a surveyor. Not having the 
requisite instruments, he interested a skilful black- 
smith in his behalf, who agreed to work for him 
at night if he would "blow and strike" by day. 
A needle and a good working chain were the result 
of several weeks' work. This circumstance in his 
life doubtless gave rise to the remark, found in 
Silliman's Journal, that "in 1791 he was an ap- 
prenticed blacksmith." The bottom of an old 
pewter plate, well smoothed, polished and grad- 
uated, served as a compass-circle, so that Eaton, 
when sixteen years old, was in the field with his 
home-made instruments, doing occasional survey- 
ing in the neighborhood. He aspired, however, to 
higher attainments and, encouraged by his parents, 
was fitted for college at Spencertown, N. Y., and 
was graduated at Williams College, in 1799, with 
a high reputation for scientific knowledge. In the 
same year he began the study of law at Spencer- 
town, and subsequently continued his studies in 
New York. 

At this time he first became interested in the 
study of botany and other natural sciences. While 
in New York, in 1802, he borrowed Kirwan's "Min- 
eralogy," then a scarce book, and made a manu- 
script copy of the entire work. He was admitted 
to the bar, at Albany, in 1802, and soon after es- 
tablished himself as a lawyer and land agent in 
Catskill, N. Y. Here he remained several years, 



STEPHEN VAN RENSSELAER AND AMOS EATON 23 

his position affording him excellent opportunities 
for cultivating his growing taste for the natural 
sciences. In May, 1810, he made in Catskill, it is 
believed, the first attempt in this country at a 
popular course of lectures on botany, compiling 
for the use of his class a small elementary treatise. 
For this Dr. Hosack, who had formerly taught 
him in New York, complimented him as being the 
"first in the field." 

Having found his love for the details of his pro- 
fession diminishing and his interest in the natural 
sciences increasing, he finally resolved to abandon 
the practice of law and to fit himself more thor- 
oughly for scientific pursuits. With this end in 
view he went to New Haven, in 1815, to avail him- 
self of the advantages found at Yale College. He 
placed himself under the instruction of Professor 
Silliman, who threw open to him his lectures on 
chemistry, geology and mineralogy, as well as his 
own library and the cabinet of minerals of that 
institution. Here, also, he found a good botanist 
in Dr. Eli Ives, Professor of Botany and Materia 
Medica in the medical department of the college, 
who had accumulated a good library, to which he 
gave Eaton free access. With these advantages 
and his already advanced acquirements he was 
soon well qualified as an explorer and teacher. Re- 
turning to Williamstown in 181 7, he gave courses 
of lectures in botany, mineralogy and geology to 
volunteer classes of students. His influence in the 
college was remarkable, and he awakened there an 
interest in the natural sciences which has never 



24 HISTORY OF RENSSELAER INSTITUTE 

died out. His pupils published, in 1817, the first 
edition of his "Manual of Botany," a i2mo of 164 
pages, which, as the late Dr. Lewis C. Beck wrote 
in 1852, "gave an impulse to the study of botany 
in New England and New York, as the only de- 
scriptive work which was then current was that of 
Pursh, an expensive one with Latin descriptions." 
This work was improved by repeated revisions and 
additions, and became, in the eighth edition, pub- 
lished in 1840, a large octavo volume of 625 pages, 
which was entitled "North American Botany," 
and contained a description of 5,267 species of 
plants. 

The encouragement received by Mr. Eaton at 
Williams College determined him to give courses 
of popular scientific lectures, accompanied with 
practical instructions, to such classes as he might 
be able to organize in several of the larger towns of 
New England and New York. These met with 
great success, and in the course of two or three 
years he diffused a great amount of scientific 
knowledge, and there sprang up as the result of his 
labors an army of young botanists and geologists. 
According to Prof. Albert Hopkins, of Williams 
College, he was one of the first to popularize science 
in the Northern States, and was one of the first in 
this country to study nature in the field, with his 
classes. 

In 1 818, in compliance with a special invitation 
from Governor DeWitt Clinton, he, went to Albany 
and delivered a course of lectures before the niem- 
bers of the Legislature. Here he became ac- 



STEPHEN VAN RENSSELAER AND AMOS EATON 25 

quainted with many of the leading men of the 
State, interesting them especially in geology and 
its application, by means of surveys, to agriculture. 
A train of causes was thus set in operation which 
resulted in giving to the world that great work, 
"The Natural History of New York," so creditable 
to the State and to the scientific men who executed 
it, of whom several had been Professor Eaton's 
pupils. In this year he published the first edition 
of his "Index to the Geology of the Northern 
States," which was the first attempt at a general 
arrangement of the geological strata in North 
America. In his " Education in the United States," 
Boone says: "Among the older geologists, and one 
of the first to study nature in the field, was Prof. 
Amos Eaton of Williams College. He has been 
called the 'Father of American Geology,' was the 
instructor of Hall, Dana and Williams, and initi- 
ated the interest in a half dozen States." 

He afterwards delivered several courses of lec- 
tures in the medical college at Castleton, Vt., in 
which he was appointed Professor of Natural His- 
tory in 1820. In this year and the following one 
he made the geological and agricultural surveys of 
Albany and Rensselaer counties to which reference 
has been made in the sketch of the life of Stephen 
Van Rensselaer. Of these surveys Professor Silli- 
man remarked, in his Journal, "The attempt is 
novel in this country " ; adding, "We are not aware 
of any attempt on so extensive and systematic a 
scale, to make them subservient to the important 
interests of agriculture." There has also been 



26 HISTORY OF RENSSELAER INSTITUTE 

previously mentioned the geological survey of the 
district adjoining the Erie Canal, made by Pro- 
fessor Eaton in 1822 and 1823. A report of this 
survey, consisting of 160 octavo pages, with a 
profile section of rock formations from the Atlantic 
Ocean, across the States of Massachusetts and New 
York, to Lake Erie, was published in 1824. In 
relation to this work Governor Seward, in his in- 
troduction to the "Natural History of the State of 
New York," said: "This publication marked an 
era in the progress of geology in this country. It 
is in some respects inaccurate, but it must be 
remembered that its talented and indefatigable 
author was without a guide in exploring the older 
formations, and that he described rocks which no 
geologist had, at that time, attempted to classify. 
Rocks were then classified chiefly by their miner- 
alogical characters, and the aid which the science 
has since learned to derive from fossils, in deter- 
mining the chronology and classification of rocks, 
was scarcely known here and had only just begun 
to be appreciated in Europe. We are indebted, 
nevertheless, to Professor Eaton for the com- 
mencement of that independence of European 
classification which has been found indispensable 
in describing the New York system." He also 
said : ' ' Professor Eaton enumerated nearly all the 
rocks in western New York, in their order of suc- 
cession; and his enumeration has, with one or two 
exceptions, proved correct. It is^ a matter of 
surprise that he recognized, at so early a period, 
the old red sandstone on the Catskill mountains, a 



F* 



STEPHEN VAN RENSSELAER AND AMOS EATON 27 

discovery the reality of which has since been 
proved by fossil tests." 

Such was the man chosen by Stephen Van Rens- 
selaer to take charge, as Senior Professor and 
Agent, of the institution which he established in 
1824. Eaton's enthusiasm and remarkable powers 
as a teacher doubtless had their influence in deter- 
mining him to bear the expense of the series of lec- 
tures in towns along the Erie Canal, and afterwards 
to undertake the creation of the school. And it 
does not detract from the credit of the founder to 
say that the methods and the object of the institu- 
tion, as set forth in his letter to Dr. Blatchford, 
were, if not wholly, at least partly due to its first 
Senior Professor. 

Rev. Calvin Durfee in his History of Williams 
College (i860), from which most of this account of 
the life of Eaton is taken, says: "In this school 
Professor Eaton was able to perfect and carry out, 
to a high degree of success, his favorite plan of 
teaching classes by making his pupils experi- 
menters and workers in every department of science 
where it was practicable ; substituting also lectures 
by the pupils to each other in place of the usual 
system of recitations. This method of giving in- 
struction and of preparing young men to become 
successful teachers has here succeeded most admir- 
ably, and has been, in some of its features, intro- 
duced into other schools of science." And again: 
"The history of natural science on this continent 
can never be faithfully written, without giving the 
name of Amos Eaton an honorable place. It was 



28 HISTORY OF RENSSELAER INSTITUTE 

he, more than any other individual in the United 
States, who, finding the natural sciences in the 
hands of the learned few, by means of his popular 
lectures, simplified text-books and practical in- 
structions, threw them broadcast to the many. 
He aimed at a general diffusion of the natural 
sciences, and nobly and successfully did he accom- 
plish his mission." 

The last seventeen years of his life were passed 
in Troy as Senior Professor in the Rensselaer School 
or Rensselaer Institute, the name by which it was 
afterwards known. In the minutes of the Board 
of Trustees we find this tribute to his memory: 
"The trustees are called to the painful duty of 
recording the death of Prof. Amos Eaton, who has 
long been at the head of the Rensselaer Institute. 
He died on the tenth day of May, 1842, in the 
sixty-sixth year of his age. It is but simple justice 
to say that Professor Eaton was, under its dis- 
tinguished patron and benefactor, the founder of 
this school of the natural sciences; that he was a 
faithful and successful instructor in these studies, 
and that he contributed, by his labors in the Insti- 
tute and by his geological survey of the State of 
New York, more than any other man in our country 
to the cultivation of geological science. While the 
trustees consider the experiment, as to the mode of 
communicating knowledge adopted in the Rensse- 
laer Institute, as a successful one, they are fully 
persuaded that much of this success is due to the 
industry and enthusiasm of Professor Eaton. Few 
men were ever more devoted to the peculiar duties 




Van cler Heydeii Mansion, 1834-41 



IfiiiMf^^liliiinHiiHB 



Building on the Infant School Lot, 1844-62 




Main Building, 1864-1904 




Ranken House, 1877-1910 



STEPHEN VAN RENSSELAER AND AMOS EATON 29 

of his profession than he, and his perseverance was 
equal to his devotedness. His removal may be 
considered not only as a loss to our city, but to our 
country." 

An idea of his labors as an author and investi- 
gator may be obtained from a list of his works. He 
published an Elementary Treatise on Botany, 1810; 
Manual of Botany, 1817; Botanical Dictionary, 
1 81 7; Botanical Exercises, 1820; Botanical Gram- 
mar and Dictionary, 1828; Chemical Note Book, 
1821; Chemical Instructor, 1822; Zoological Sylla- 
bus and Note Book, 1822; Cuvier's Grand Division, 
1822; Art Without Science, 1800; Philosophical 
Instructor, 1824; Directions for Surveying and 
Engineering, 1838; Index to the Geology of the 
Northern States, 1818; Geological and Agricultural 
Survey of the County of Albany, N. Y., 1820; Ge- 
ological and Agricultural Survey of Rensselaer 
County, 1822; Geological Nomenclature of North 
America, 1822; Geological and Agricultural Survey 
of the District adjoining the Erie Canal, 1824; 
Geological Text Book, prepared for popular lec- 
tures on North American geology, 1830; Geologi- 
cal Note Book for Troy Class, 1841. Of most of 
these works a number of different editions were 
published. 

In after years his memory as a botanist was hon- 
ored by Professor Gray, who named for him two 
species of plants, the Eatonia obtusata and Eatonia 
Pennsylvanica. 

Enough has been said to show the great value of 
his original work in the natural sciences, and this 



30 HISTORY OF RENSSELAER INSTITUTE 

short sketch of his Ufe will be closed by a tribute to 
his memory as a teacher, paid, thirty years after 
his death, by one of his former pupils. At the 
ceremonies attending the erection of a monument 
to him, during the celebration of the semi-centen- 
nial of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, in 
1874, Prof. James Hall, of the class of 1832, New 
York State Geologist and Palaeontologist, himself 
with a world-wide fame in his specialty, said, in part : 
"In the progress of civilization it is not the slow, 
uniform motion of the great masses that helps it 
forward, but the few men who come out from them 
and strike a new key. Professor Eaton taught us 
the manipulations in science with the simplest 
materials, so that a student could go into the forest 
and construct a pneumatic trough, or a balance, 
and perform there his experiments in chemistry or 
physics. To his memory we owe much. His name 
has been neglected before the public, but cherished 
in the bosoms of those who knew him — a man capa- 
ble of interesting young men, having a brain one- 
fourth larger than that of the mass of mankind, 
and that brain devoted to the service of science. 
If we with great means do what he did with small, 
we shall deserve well of coming generations," 



CHAPTER III 

ACT OF INCORPORATION AND EARLY BY-LAWS 

Shortly after the receipt of Stephen Van Rens- 
selaer's letter, given in the first chapter, the Rev. 
Dr. Blatchford called together the Board of Trus- 
tees of the new school. The first meeting was held 
December 29, 1824, and the institution was then 
named the " Rensselaer School." An outline of the 
method of instruction to be pursued may be gath- 
ered from the minutes of the proceedings of this 
meeting, during which it was: 

^^ Resolved, That persons attending the courses of 
instruction at Rensselaer School be distributed into 
three classes, viz. : a Day Class, an Afternoon Class 
and an Evening Class. 

"The exercises of the Day Class, for six hours in 
each day, except Sunday, shall consist of experi- 
ments in chemistry, performed by themselves, and 
in giving explanations, or the rationale of the ex- 
periments; and they shall undergo daily examina- 
tions and alternately become examiners them- 
selves. Each member of this class shall pay $25 
a term (as prescribed by the founder in the orders 
promulgated by him), and at the end of each term 
shall be examined for his certificate. 

"The Afternoon Class shall consist of those who 
may have previously attended one or more courses 
of lectures on chemistry at some public institution. 

31 



32 HISTORY OF RENSSELAER INSTITUTE 

They will hear no afternoon lectures; but their ex- 
ercises will consist of a course of experiments in 
chemistry, performed by themselves, as above, with 
the rationale, conducted under the superintendence 
of the senior professor. These exercises will occupy 
three hours in the afternoon of each week-day ex- 
cept Saturday. Each member of this class shall pay 
$10 a term, and at the end of each term undergo an 
examination for his certificate. 

"The Evening Class will attend lectures, on 
three evenings of each week, for ten weeks. This 
course of lectures will embrace chemistry, experi- 
mental philosophy, and the outlines of mineralogy, 
geology, botany, and zoology. The charge for at- 
tendance will be $5. Members of this class will not 
be examined at the end of the term, but may have 
certificates of attendance." * 

The opening of the school on Monday, January 3, 
1825, was announced by a notice, signed by the 
president, printed in the Troy Sentinel of December 
28th. The announcement reads, in part, as 
follows : 

"The Hon. Stephen Van Rensselaer having es- 
tablished a school near the northern limits of Troy 
for teaching the physical sciences with their appli- 
cation to the arts of life; having appointed Profs. 
A. Eaton and L. C. Beck to give courses of instruc- 
tion particularly calculated to prepare operative 
chemists and practical naturalists, properly qual- 
ified to act as teachers in villages, and school dis- 

* Troy Sentinel, January 4, 1825. 




Winslow Chemical Laboratory, 1866-1902 




Winslow Laboratory, 1902-06 ; Shop, 1907- 





o 



o 



ACT OF INCORPORATION AND EARLY BY-LAWS 33 

tricts; having appointed an agent and furnished 
him with funds for procuring apparatus and fitting 
up a laboratory, library-room, etc. ; and the agent 
having given notice to the president of the insti- 
tution that the requisite collections and prepara- 
tions are completed, it seems proper to give public 
notice of these circumstances. 

"Accordingly the public is respectfully notified 
that everything is in readiness at the Rensselaer 
School for giving instruction in chemistry, experi- 
mental philosophy and natural history, with their 
application to agriculture, domestic economy, and 
the arts ; and also for teaching land surveying. . . . 

" During the day no lectures will be given by the 
professors, but under their superintendence the 
students, divided into sections, will perform all the 
experiments and give the explanations, the students 
thus acting as lecturers and the professors as 
auditors. . . . 

"Students who wish for extra accommodations 
will pay from $1.75 to $2.00 a week for board and 
lodging. But any number of students can have 
good plain board and lodging near the school for 
$1.50 a week." 

The courses and methods thus set forth are seen 
to be those outlined in the letter of the founder, 
with the orders accompanying it; and the trustees, 
instructors, and other officers were the persons 
named by him in the same document. Being at 
this time a member of Congress, Mr. Van Rens- 
selaer wrote from Washington another letter to Dr. 
Blatchford, dated February 11, 1825, in which a 



34 HISTORY OF RENSSELAER INSTITUTE 

draft of by-laws for the further government of the 
institution was enclosed: 

"Washington, February ii, 1825. 
^^ Dear Sir: I offer my acknowledgements for the 
interest you have taken in promoting the school 
over which you preside. I have enclosed a draft, 
hastily drawn up, of by-laws, for the government 
of the school, which I beg to submit to yourself and 
the gentlemen associated with you for considera- 
tion and amendment. I flatter myself that the 
school will succeed and that the advantages I an- 
ticipated will be realized. 

"With respect, yours sincerely, 

"S. V. Rensselaer." 

[ enclosed draft ] 

"i. That there be two terms in each year, of 
twelve or fifteen weeks each, to be called the sum- 
mer term and winter. The summer term to com- 
mence in May, the winter term to commence in 
January — say, the last of May and January. 

"2. That during the summer terms the students 
shall be taught the elementary principles of the 
science of chemistry, experimental philosophy, nat- 
ural history, land surveying, etc., with their appli- 
cation to agriculture, manufactures, and the arts. 

"3. That, with the consent of the proprietors, a 
number of well-cultivated farms and workshops in 
the vicinity of the school be entered on the records 
of the school as places of scholastic exercise for 
students, where the application of the sciences 
may be most conveniently taught. 



ACT OF INCORPORATION AND EARLY BY-LAWS 35 

"4. That during the winter term students be 
exercised in giving lectures, by turns, on all the 
branches taught in the summer term, under the 
direction of the professors or their assistants, in 
order to qualify them for giving instruction in 
these branches. And that a course of evening lec- 
tures be given in the winter term, by the profes- 
sors, so as to embrace elementary views of the 
whole course of instruction given at the school. 

"5. That an annual commencement be held in 
April at the close of the winter term, for conferring 
diplomas on those qualified." 

This letter, and the previous one from Mr. Van 
Rensselaer dated November 5, 1824, are important 
documents in the history of the School. They, 
with the draft enclosed with the last one, were 
adopted as its constitution at a meeting of the 
Board of Trustees held at the Old Bank Place, 
March 11, 1825.* 

After about fourteen months of successful trial 
the school was incorporated by the following act, 
passed March 21, 1826: 

AN ACT TO INCORPORATE THE RENSSELAER SCHOOL f 

Whereas, the honorable Stephen Van Rensselaer has 
procured suitable buildings in the city of Troy, in Rensse- 
laer county, and therein set up a school, and at his own 

* The Constitution and Laws of Rensselaer School in Troy, New 
York. Adopted by the Board of Trustees, March ii, 1825. Printed 
by Tuttle and Richards, 1825. The By-Laws were also printed in 
this pamphlet together with a description of the library, apparatus 
and natural history specimens and an estimate of the cost of board 
and lodging for the students. 

t Laws of the State of New York, 1826, Chap. 83. 



36 HISTORY OF RENSSELAER INSTITUTE 

private expense has furnished the same with a scientific 
library, chemical and philosophical; instruments for teach- 
ing land surveying and other branches of practical math- 
ematics, which are useful to the agriculturist, the machinist, 
and to other artists, has caused to be prepared and fur- 
nished separate and commodious rooms for instruction in 
natural philosophy, natural history, the common operations 
in chemistry, and an assay-room for the analysis of soils, 
manures, mineral and animal and vegetable matter, with 
the application of these departments of science to agri- 
culture, domestic economy, and the arts: And whereas, said 
Van Rensselaer has employed teachers, and caused an 
experimental system of instruction to be adopted by them, 
whereby each student is required to observe the operations 
of a select number of agriculturists and artists in the vicin- 
ity of said school, and to demonstrate the principles upon 
which the results of such operations depend, by experi- 
ments and specimens performed and exhibited by his own 
hands, under the direction of said teachers: And whereas, 
one important object of said school is to qualify teachers 
for instructing youths in villages and in common-school 
districts, belonging to the class of farmers and mechanics, 
by lectures or otherwise, in the application of the most 
important principles of experimental chemistry, natural 
philosophy, natural history, and practical mathematics to 
agriculture, domestic economy, the arts, and manufactures: 
And whereas, the trustees of said school, who were ap- 
pointed to take charge thereof, by said Van Rensselaer, 
by an instrument in writing dated November the fifth, 
in the year eighteen hundred and twenty-four, have rep- 
resented to this Legislature, that after having tested the 
plan of said school by a trial of one year, they find it to be 
practicable and in their opinion highly beneficial to the 
public: And whereas, the Legislature considers it to be 
their duty to encourage such laudable efforts and such 
munificent applications of surplus wealth of individuals: 
Therefore 



ACT OF INCORPORATION AND EARLY BY-LAWS 37 

1. BE it enacted by the People of the State of New York, 
represented in Senate and Assembly, That Simeon De Witt, 
Samuel Blatchford, John D. Dickinson, Guert Van Schoon- 
hoven, EHas Parmalee, Richard P. Hart, John Cramer and 
Theodore Romeyn Beck, shall be and hereby are consti- 
tuted a body corporate and politic, by the name of " the 
president and trustees of Rensselaer School," and by that 
name they shall have perpetual succession, and shall be 
capable of suing and being sued, pleading and being im- 
pleaded, answering and being answered unto, defending 
and being defended, in all courts and suits whatsoever; and 
may have a common seal, with power to change or alter the 
same from time to time, and shall be capable of purchasing, 
taking possession of, holding and enjoying to them and 
their successors any real estate, in fee simple or otherwise, 
and any goods, chattels, and personal estate, and of selling, 
leasing, or otherwise disposing of the said real and personal 
estate, or of any part thereof, at their will and pleasure. 
Provided, however, That the funds of said corporation shall 
be used for and appropriated to the objects contemplated 
in the preamble of this act; And provided also. That 
the clear annual income of such real and personal estate 
shall not exceed the sum of twenty thousand dollars. 

2. And be it further enacted. That the said trustees shall, 
from time to time, forever hereafter have power to make, 
constitute, ordain, and establish such by-laws and regula- 
tions as they shall judge proper, for the election of the 
officers and prescribing their respective functions, for the 
government of the officers and students of said school as to 
their respective duties, for collecting fines, impositions, 
and term fees, for suspending, expelling, and otherwise pun- 
ishing students, so that it shall not extend further than 
expulsion and retaining term fees, and collecting the 
amount of any damage done by students to the property 
of said school; for conferring on students such honors as 
they may judge proper, having relation to the object of 
said school as expressed in the said preamble, and for 



38 HISTORY OF RENSSELAER INSTITUTE 

managing and directing all the concerns of said school; 
also for confirming the constitution and by-laws, or any 
part thereof heretofore adopted by said trustees, provided 
such by-laws and regulations have relation to the subjects 
of the preamble of this act exclusively. 

3. A?id be it further enacted, That the officers of said 
school shall consist of a president, two vice-presidents, a 
treasurer and secretary, two professors, and such a number 
of adjunct professors and assistants as the trustees may 
from time to time appoint or authorize the appointment of, 
a librarian, monitor and steward. That whenever any va- 
cancy shall happen among the trustees of said school, 
such vacancy or vacancies may be filled by a quorum of the 
remaining trustees, so that two trustees shall reside in 
Albany, two in Troy, two in Lansingburgh, and two in 
Waterford. 

4. And he it further enacted, That there shall be one 
annual meeting of the trustees of said school on the last 
Wednesday in April, at which meeting four members of the 
board of trustees shall constitute a quorum, and that 
four members shall also constitute a quorum at all special 
meetings, to be called by the president at any time after 
the passing of this act, provided a written notice of such 
meeting, signed by the president or by one of the vice- 
presidents, shall be left at the dwelling-house or place of 
residence of such member of the board seven days previous 
to such special meeting. 

5. And he it further enacted. That Samuel Blatchford 
shall be president, and that he, together with all the other 
officers of the said school, shall remain as heretofore, until 
a special meeting of a quorum of said trustees shall be 
assembled at such school, by the president, or by a vice- 
president, as prescribed in the fourth section of this act 
or until the annual meeting on the last Wednesday in April 
next, then to be permitted to continue in their respective 
offices, or their places to be filled at the pleasure of the 
trustees. 



ACT OF INCORPORATION AND EARLY BY-LAWS 39 

6. And be it further enacted, That the Legislature may at 
any time modify or repeal this act. 

Upon the passage of the act of incorporation 
the trustees named therein held a meeting at the 
school on April 3, 1826, and, after reappointing all 
the ofhcers who had been serving at the time the 
bill was passed, they resolved that the constitution 
previously adopted, consisting of the two letters of 
Mr. Van Rensselaer, should continue to be the con- 
stitution of the school, with certain amendments. 
These amendments provided that there should be 
three terms in each year, to be called the Fall 
Term, Winter Term, and Spring Term; that the 
fall term should be an experimental term com- 
mencing on the third Wednesday in July and con- 
tinuing fifteen weeks; that the winter term should 
be a recitation term commencing on the third 
Wednesday in November and continuing twelve 
weeks; that the spring term should be an experi- 
mental term commencing on the first Wednesday 
in March and continuing until the last Wednesday 
in June, and that the last mentioned day should 
be the Annual Commencement. 

At the same meeting a code of by-laws consisting 
of eleven articles was passed. These replaced the 
fourteen by-laws, passed March 11, 1825, which 
are referred to in the new code as "having been 
intended for the temporary government of the 
school in its incipient state." Some of these arti- 
cles which embody the curriculum of that day will 
be given in full. 

"Article i. The course of exercise at said school 



40 HISTORY OF RENSSELAER INSTITUTE 

in the Fall Term shall be, as nearly as circum- 
stances will permit, as follows: Each student shall 
give five lectures each week on systematic botany, 
demonstrated with specimens, for the first three 
weeks, and shall either collect, analyze and pre- 
serve specimens of plants, or examine the oper- 
ations of artists and manufacturers at the school 
workshops, under the direction of a professor or 
assistant, who shall explain the scientific principles 
upon which such operations depend, four hours on 
each of six days in every week, unless excused by 
a professor on account of the weather, ill-health 
or other sufficient cause. For the remaining twelve 
weeks, each student shall give fifteen lectures on 
mineralogy and zoology, demonstrated with spec- 
imens; fifteen lectures on chemical powers and 
substances not metallic; fifteen lectures on natural 
philosophy, including astronomy; and fifteen lec- 
tures on metalloids, metals, soils, manures, mineral 
waters, and animal and vegetable matter — all to 
be fully illustrated with experiments performed 
with his own hands; and shall examine the opera- 
tions of artists at the school workshops, under the 
direction of a professor or assistant, four hours on 
every Saturday, unless excused as aforesaid. 

''Article 2. During the Winter Term students 
shall recite, to a professor or to a competent assist- 
ant, the elements of the sciences taught in the fall 
and spring terms; and shall study and recite, as 
auxiliary branches in aid of these sciejQces, rhetoric, 
logic, geography, and as much mathematics as the 
faculty shall deem necessary for studying land sur- 



ACT OF INCORPORATION AND EARLY BY-LAWS 41 

veying, common mensuration, and for performing 
the common astronomical calculations. 

"Article 3. The course of exercises in the Spring 
Term shall be, as nearly as circumstances will ad- 
mit, as follows: Each student shall, during the 
first six weeks, give ten lectures on experimental 
philosophy; ten lectures on chemical powers and 
on substances not metallic; and ten lectures on 
metalloids, metals, soils and mineral waters. For 
the remainder of the term each student shall be 
exercised in the application of the sciences before 
enumerated to the analysis of particular selected 
specimens of soils, manures, animal and vegetable 
substances, ores, and mineral waters; and shall de- 
vote four hours of each day, unless excused by one 
of the faculty, to the examination of the operations 
of the agriculturists on the school farms, together 
with the progress of cultivated grains, grasses, 
fruit-trees, and other plants, to practical land- 
surveying and general mensuration, to calculations 
upon the application of water-power and steam 
which is made to the various machines in the vicin- 
ity of the school, and to an examination of the 
laws of hydrostatics and hydrodynamics which are 
exemplified by the locks, canals, aqueducts, and 
natural waterfalls surrounding the institution." 

Article 4 relates to the admission of students. It 
provides that no candidate shall be admitted as an 
annual student under the age of seventeen years. 
The conditions under which examinations are to 
be held and degrees given are set forth in Article 5. 
The degree conferred was Bachelor of Arts in Rens- 



42 HISTORY OF RENSSELAER INSTITUTE 

selaer School, A.B. (r.s.). After the expiration of 
three years from the receipt of this degree, or of 
one year, if the student attended a second annual 
course at the school and proved his capacity, the 
degree Master of Arts in Rensselaer School, M.A. 
(r.s.), was conferred. No degree could be conferred 
on any one less than eighteen years old; and in 
using the abbreviation for Bachelor or Master of 
Arts the letters (r.s.) had to be added. It is pro- 
vided in Article 6 that, after receiving a degree, a 
person ever after remained a member of the school, 
and must, every three years, report his occupation 
to the trustees. We learn from Article 7 that at 
this time the tuition was $15 for each experimental 
term and $6 for the recitation term. The student 
also had to pay extra for breakage and chemicals 
consumed and his proportion of the cost of fuel and 
lights and the services of the monitors. Article 8 
relates to weekly reports from professors. Article 9 
to the times of meeting of the board of trustees. 
Article 10 makes void all previous rules and by- 
laws, and Article 11 provides for temporary rules 
to be made by the faculty. 

Much of the information above given in relation 
to the founding of the school is taken from the 
original minutes of the meetings held by the board 
of trustees and from a pamphlet entitled "Consti- 
tution and Laws of Rensselaer School in Troy, 
New York; adopted by the board of trustees 
April 3, 1826; together with a Catalogue of Officers 
and Students," which was published in Albany in 
1826. Among '^ Notices and Remarks" found in 



ACT OF INCORPORATION AND EARLY BY-LAWS 43 

it, there is a paragraph containing an itemized ac- 
count of the necessary expenses of a student. This 
will be quoted to show the difference between the 
cost of education at that time and the outlay re- 
quired at the present day: "The expenses for a 
student of ordinary prudence will be about $I00, 
if he is absent during the winter term: 

Board, 30 weeks at $1.50 $45.00 

Washing, about 18 cents per week. . 5.62 
Chemical substances, etc., about. ... 4.00 
Proportion of fuel and lights, about . . 6 . 00 

Text-books, about 4 . 00 

Experimental term fees, $15 30.00 

Total $94.62" 

The catalogue contains the names of the profes- 
sors and twenty-five students. Amos Eaton is 
entitled professor of chemistry and natural philos- 
ophy and lecturer on geology, land surveying, etc., 
and Lewis C. Beck, professor of botany, mineral- 
ogy and zoology. Eighteen of the students came 
from the State of New York, two from New Hamp- 
shire, two from Massachusetts, one from Vermont, 
one from Ohio and one from Pennsylvania. 



CHAPTER IV 

METHODS OF INSTRUCTION — PREPARATION 
BRANCH ESTABLISHED 

Although a general knowledge of the mode of 
instruction pursued at the Rensselaer School may- 
be obtained from the letters of the founder and 
especially from the by-laws adopted by the board 
of trustees at the early meetings, the novelty of the 
system of teaching and the fact that the institution 
was established at such an early date render 
advisable a more detailed account of its methods at 
that time. The peculiarities of the school are 
described in several of the pamphlets published, 
under the auspices of the board of trustees, during 
the first years of its existence. Its three distinct 
characteristics will be given in the words of one of 
these publications. 

"i. The most distinctive character in the plan 
of the school consists in giving the pupil the place 
of teacher in all his exercises. From schools or 
colleges where the highest branches are taught to 
the common village schools, the teacher always im- 
proves himself more than he does his pupils. Being 
under the necessity of relying upon his own re- 
sources and of making every subject his own, he 
becomes an adept as a matter of necessity. Tak- 
ing advantage of this principle, students of Rens- 

44 



I 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION 45 

selaer School learn by giving experimental and 
demonstrative lectures, with experiments and 
specimens. 

"2. In every branch of learning the student be- 
gins with its practical application, and is introduced 
to a knowledge of elementary principles, from time 
to time, as his progress requires. After visiting a 
bleaching-factory he returns to the laboratory and 
produces the chlorine gas and experiments upon it 
until he is familiar with all the elementary prin- 
ciples appertaining to that curious substance. Af- 
ter seeing the process of tanning he enters the labor- 
atory with most ardent zeal for a knowledge of the 
principles upon which the tanner's operations de- 
pend. He can now apply the experiment for 
making an insoluble precipitate of tannin and ani- 
mal gelatin, also the soapy compound of animal oil 
and alkaline earth, etc. After seeing buhr mill- 
stones consolidated by a gypsum cement, he is 
anxious to try the experiment of disengaging the 
water of combination in the gypsum, to observe the 
effect of reabsorption. By this method a strong 
desire to study an elementary principle is excited 
by bringing his labors to a point where he perceives 
the necessity of it and its direct application to a 
useful purpose. 

"3. Corporal exercise is not only necessary for 
the health of students, but for qualifying them for 
the business of life. When such exercises are 
chosen by students they are not always judiciously 
selected. Such exercises as running, jumping, 
climbing, scuffling, and the like are calculated to 



46 HISTORY OF RENSSELAER INSTITUTE 

detract from that dignity of deportment which be- 
comes a man of science. Therefore a system of 
exercises is adopted at this school which, while it 
improves the health, also improves the mind and 
excludes those vulgarisms which are too often 
rendered habitual among students. Such exercises 
as land surveying, general engineering, collecting 
and preserving specimens in botany, mineralogy 
and zoology, examining workshops and factories, 
watching the progress of agricultural operations, 
making experiments upon nutritious matters proper 
for vegetables in the experimental garden, etc., are 
made the duties of students for a stated number of 
hours on each day." 

To further illustrate the methods employed an 
account will be given of the routine work during 
the three terms which composed the year. Each 
term was divided into sub-terms three weeks in 
duration. Students were admitted at the begin- 
ning of any sub-term and their annual course was 
completed at the end of a year from the time they 
commenced. The exercises were so arranged that 
it was a matter of indifference at which sub-term 
they began. The fall term opened on the third 
Wednesday in July. The first sub-term was de- 
voted wholly to botany, and each student gave 
fifteen extemporaneous lectures on this subject 
before his fellow-students and one or more pro- 
fessors. At the end of the first sub- term the class 
was distributed into four divisions. ^ The first divi- 
sion was placed in the natural history room for one 
sub-term, the second in the common laboratory, 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION 47 

the third in the natural philosophy room, and the 
fourth in the assay room. 

The equipment of these laboratories, as first es- 
tabhshed, is interesting: "The natural history 
room is furnished with sufficient specimens for il- 
lustrating mineralogy, botany, and zoology, a large 
furnace, a goniometer, a megascope, a blowpipe, 
scales, tests, etc., sufficient for investigating sub- 
jects in natural history. 

"The common laboratory is furnished with a 
cistern, furnace, and everything necessary for per- 
forming chemical experiments, excepting those 
which teach the analysis of metalloids, metals and 
animal and vegetable matter. 

"The natural philosophy room is furnished with 
a small observatory, skylights, mechanical powers, 
hydraulic instruments, optical instruments, math- 
ematical instruments, pneumatical apparatus, etc., 
sufficient for demonstrating every principle in ex- 
perimental philosophy. 

"The assay room is furnished with skylights, a 
forge, large bellows, and other conveniences for the 
analysis of minerals, mineral waters, and animal 
and vegetable matter." 

Each of the four divisions was wholly employed 
with the subjects assigned to the room occupied 
by it during one sub-term. Then all the divisions 
moved on "in a circle." The first took the place 
of the second, the second that of the third, the 
third that of the fourth, and the fourth that of the 
first. At the beginning of the next sub-term all 
the divisions moved on in the circle again as before ; 



48 HISTORY OF RENSSELAER INSTITUTE 

and so on, until each division had devoted a sub- 
term to each department. 

There was a regular daily routine for the work. 
The first bell rang at sunrise and the second twenty 
minutes later. Five minutes after this the stu- 
dents gathered in the reading-room for an exami- 
nation on the exercises of the preceding day. At 
nine o'clock a lecture was given by a professor to 
all of the students, and at ten o'clock the daily 
assistant, called the officer of the day, gave a lec- 
ture before all of them in the presence of the pro- 
fessor. The place of daily assistant was filled by 
the students in rotation. At the close of the lec- 
ture the students criticised his style, manner and 
experimental illustrations. Ten minutes after the 
close of this exercise, two sub-assistants gave lec- 
tures in separate rooms, each before two divisions, 
in the presence of a professor or assistant. Every 
one took notes, for use at the meeting held for pur- 
poses of general criticism at the close of the exer- 
cises of the forenoon. At the expiration of ten 
minutes from the end of these lectures the four 
divisions separated, each going to its respective 
department, where every student in turn lectured 
before the others and a professor or assistant. 
They then all met in the reading-room and each 
criticised all the lectures he had heard. These ex- 
ercises closed at one o'clock. After dinner the 
divisions went to their respective departments to 
prepare for the experiments and demonstrations 
of the next day. After this preparation, which 
was generally completed by four o'clock, the stu- 




Proudfit Observatory, 1878-1900 




Proudfit Laboratory, 1900-03 




Proudfit Laboratory, 1903-04 




Proudfit Laboratory, 1904- 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION 49 

dents met in the reading-room to receive directions 
for the "afternoon amusements." They were then 
arranged in divisions and led by professors or as- 
sistants to workshops, factories, etc., "for the 
purpose of applying the principles of mechanical 
philosophy and chemistry to the various oper- 
ations of artists," or to the field. to collect plants. 
Five days of each week were occupied as above 
described. Every other Saturday, and also Friday 
and Saturday evenings, were devoted to parlia- 
mentary exercises. The students represented the 
different States and formed a parliament for 
purposes of debate. On the alternate Saturdays 
not devoted to debate, after the morning exami- 
nations were over, they were free for the rest of 
the day. 

The exercises of the Winter term, which was 
twelve weeks in duration, were conducted on the 
same plan as that described for the Fall term. 
Rhetoric, logic, etymology, history, geography, and 
mathematics were taught. The afternoon amuse- 
ments, adopted according to the state of the 
weather and without systematic order, were: use 
of the sextant, compass, goniometer, blowpipe, 
telescope, and other optical instruments, construc- 
tion and use of ice lenses and prisms, map-drawing, 
and the dissection of animals. 

The first six weeks of the Spring term were de- 
voted to a review of the subjects of the Fall term, 
and the last nine weeks, or three sub-terms, were 
employed in the practical application of the work 
of the Fall term. Instruction was given in the 



50 HISTORY OF RENSSELAER INSTITUTE 

analysis of selected specimens of minerals, mineral 
waters, soils, manures, and animal and vegetable 
matter, animal and vegetable physiology, origin 
and nature of the nutritious substances necessary 
for the growth of plants, microscopic examination 
of the structure of organized substances, principles 
of astronomical calculations, with practical appli- 
cation to eclipses and matter found in the common 
almanac; taking latitude and longitude, lunar ob- 
servations, etc. The afternoon amusements for the 
last nine weeks were: collecting and preserving 
plants, animals, and minerals; land surveying and 
levelling; calculating water pressure in locks, aque- 
ducts, mill flumes, dams, raceways, penstocks, and 
pumps; applying the principles of "mechanical phil- 
osophy" to the machinery of steamboats, mills, 
factories, etc.; application of mathematics to cask 
and ship gauging and to other cases of practical 
mensuration; examination of the progress of agri- 
cultural and horticultural operations; application 
of active substances to plants in the experimental 
garden, such as the strong acids and alkalies, the 
various gases, free and combined, and the effects of 
the atmospheric gases where all other active agents 
are excluded. 

Examinations were held at the end of each term ; 
and at the annual examinations in June candidates 
for degrees gave lectures on the application of the 
sciences to the common purposes of life. Degrees 
were conferred annually on the la§t Wednesday in 
June. 

The system of instruction thus outlined was un- 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION 51 

doubtedly novel in certain particulars. Its author 
or authors stoutly maintained that this was the 
case. Claims for its originality were made in a 
number of the early circulars. It is believed that 
Professor Eaton was responsible for the composi- 
tion of most of these. We find under the head of 
"remarks," in a prospectus issued in 1827: ''It 
will appear from a perusal of this pamphlet that 
this school is not Fellenbergian nor Lancastrian, 
but is purely Rensselaerean. The unwillingness to 
admit the possibility of an American improvement 
in the course of education which generally prevails, 
and the universal homage paid to everything Euro- 
pean, has caused much effort to trace the Rensse- 
laerean plan to some supposed shade of it on the 
other side of the Atlantic. Hitherto these invid- 
ious efforts have totally failed." Also: "These 
principles have now been practically applied for 
three years, to the full satisfaction of the patron 
and trustees. The method of teaching by lectures 
is original; though Capt. Basil Hall, of the British 
Navy, who is now making a tour of the United 
States, told me that Professor Pillans, of Edinburgh, 
had accidentally fallen upon that method in some 
degree, though he had received no account of this 
school, and that he set a high value upon it." 
Again, in a circular issued in 1833 there appears 
the paragraph: "It is well known that numerous 
colleges (literary and medical), academies, male 
and female seminaries, etc., now adopt the experi- 
mental method to a greater or less extent. Their 
not acknowledging the origin of these improve- 



52 HISTORY OF RENSSELAER INSTITUTE 

merits can never affect the feelings of the patron. It 
is sufficient for his purpose that the cause of edu- 
cation is improved and improving by his silent 
efforts, without show or loud pretentions." 

The method of instruction pursued by Eaton 
was certainly neither that of Lancaster nor of 
Fellenberg, though it had points of similarity to 
both. His "officer of the day" performed some of 
the duties of the monitor in the Lancastrian sys- 
tem, both having charge of the classes for a certain 
period of the day; but here the similarity between 
the two methods ended. A short sketch of Fellen- 
berg' s efforts in the cause of education will indicate 
the difference between his schools and that of Van 
Rensselaer. Both men were actuated by the same 
motives — the education of those who could not 
afford to pay much for the privilege. 

Emanuel de Fellenberg was a Swiss nobleman 
who, after taking part in the public affairs of his 
country during its occupation by the French, de- 
termined to devote his life and fortune to the in- 
struction of the poor. In 1799 he purchased an 
estate at Hofwyl, in the canton of Berne, upon 
which he established his schools for this purpose. 
His "Agricultural Institution" or "Poor School" 
was founded in 1808. The fundamental principles 
in its government were the employment of agri- 
culture for the moral education of the poor and the 
defrayment of the expense of their education by 
means of their own labor. About the same time a 
school of "Theoretical and Practical Agriculture" 
for all classes was formed. These were very sue- 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION 53 

cessful, and he soon afterwards commenced the 
formation of a normal school or seminary for 
teachers at his own expense. Forty-two teachers of 
the canton of Berne came together the first year 
and received a course of instruction in the art of 
teaching. 

In 1827 he established his "Intermediate or 
Practical Institute," designed for the children of 
the middle classes of Switzerland. The course of 
instruction included all the branches which were 
deemed important in the education of youths not 
intended for the professions of law, medicine, or 
theology. The pupils belonged to families of men 
of business, mechanics, professional men, and per- 
sons in public employment whose means did not 
allow them to give their children an education of 
accomplishments. In addition to an ordinary scho- 
lastic course the pupils were all employed two 
hours each day in manual labor on the farm, in a 
garden plot of their own, in the mechanic's shop 
and in household offices, such as taking care of 
rooms, books, and tools.* It is, therefore, evident 
that a marked difference existed between any of 
Fellenberg's institutions and the Rensselaer School. 

The practical demonstration of the success of the 
system adopted in the experimental school deter- 
mined the patron and trustees to extend its useful- 
ness by the establishment of what was called a 
"preparation branch," to accommodate those who 
were disqualified for entrance to the school proper 

* American Journal of Education, Henry Barnard, Vol. Ill, Hart- 
ford, 1857. 



54 HISTORY OF RENSSELAER INSTITUTE 

either by want of education or because they were 
under seventeen years of age. It was a preparatory 
school for the regular course, and the exercises were 
of the same character though more elementary than 
those of the latter. A special laboratory was pro- 
vided for this class. The studies to be pursued 
and other information relating to it were given in 
a circular dated September 14, 1826, which will be 
quoted in full. 

PREPARATION BRANCH RECENTLY ESTABLISHED AT 
RENSSELAER SCHOOL 

From a respect for the frequent solicitations of many 
gentlemen in the Southern States, and of some in the 
Northern, and from a desire expressed by the patron, to 
see the results of an extension of his plan, a preparation 
branch was this day established at this school, to go into 
operation on the third Wednesday in November. 

The following is an outline of the Plan 

1. The original method of instruction which has pro- 
duced such unexpected results, called the Rensselaerean 
method, will be extended to this branch; to wit, that of 
exercising the student, on the forenoon of each day, by 
causing him to give an extemporaneous dissertation or lec- 
ture on the subject of his course, from concise written 
memoranda; and to spend the afternoon in scholastic 
amusements. 

2. The circle of instruction is divided into five parts; 
and to each part is attached a course of summer and winter 
afternoon amusements. The following order will be ob- 
served in the fall and winter terms. In the spring term it 
will be inverted. 

First Division. Botany and Etymology. (The latter 



PREPARATION BRANCH ESTABLISHED 55 

branch will extend to so much knowledge of the structure 
of the Latin, Greek, and French languages as will enable 
the student to trace scientific terms to their themes, which 
are derived from those languages.) Amusements. For 
summer. Collecting and preserving minerals, plants, and 
insects. For winter none, as this division will not be 
studied in the winter. 

Second Division. Geography and History. Amuse- 
ments. For summer. Selecting specimens for illustrating 
the physiology of vegetation, and examining them under 
the common, and the solar, microscopes, and making 
drawings of their internal structure. For winter. Each 
making a globe of plaster of Paris, and drawing the chief 
subjects of geography upon it. 

Third Division. Elements of practical mathematics 
and of MORAL philosophy. Amusements. For summer. 
Land-surveying, taking the latitude, and performing simple 
hydraulic experiments. For winter. Making and using a 
set of mechanical powers, exercises in percussion with sus- 
pended balls, gauging, measuring cordwood and timber. 

Fourth Division. Logic and Rhetoric. Amusements. 
For summer. Experimenting upon the most common gases, 
as oxygen (obtained from vegetables by the action of light) , 
nitrogen, hydrogen, carbonic acid (with its combination in 
soda-water), testing their specific gravities, etc., and experi- 
menting upon aqueous exhalations — all to be performed 
with apparatus made with their own hands. For winter. 
Making and using galvanic batteries and piles, electrom- 
eters and magnets; and disengaging combined caloric by 
compression and affinity. 

Fifth Division. Elementary principles of government 
and LAW, and parliamentary rules. Amusements. For 
spring and fall. Constructing dials, fixing meridians, con- 
structing and using air-thermometers and hygrometers, 
taking specific gravities, using the blow-pipe and construct- 
ing the three elementary musical chords to illustrate the 
science of tones. For winter. Making camera-obscura 



56 HISTORY OF RENSSELAER INSTITUTE 

boxes ; producing focal Images by a pair of common burning 
glasses and ice lenses, and illustrating the microscope and 
telescope by the same ; illustrating the laws of refraction and 
reflection by cheap mirrors and vessels of water, and sep- 
arating the colored rays by ice cut into triangular prisms. 

Candidates are admitted to the preparation branch who 
are deemed of sufficient discretion for going through the 
course, provided they have been successfully taught in 
reading, writing, common arithmetic, and English grammar. 
The Faculty of Rensselaer School are to judge upon their 
qualifications ; but the Trustees have, in the second article of 
the by-laws of this branch, expressed an opinion that "the 
age of thirteen or fourteen years, and upwards, is best 
adapted to this course." 

Expenses. Tuition, $1.50 for every three weeks, which 
constitutes a step in the circle. Students may enter either 
step in the circle at the commencement of every three 
weeks, reckoning from the beginning of each term. The 
terms or sessions of this branch correspond with the other 
terms of the School. Board, in commons with the other 
students, never to exceed $1.50 per week. Rooms will be 
furnished at or near the school, to be under the inspection 
and control of the faculty, at a small expense. No charge 
is made for the use of public rooms, library, chemical and 
philosophical apparatus, tools of the workshop, or the cab- 
inet. And each student will attend the daily lectures of the 
Professors, free of charges. A student of strict prudence 
may pay all his expenses for the 42 weeks in each year, at 
this branch, with $120, as follows: Tuition, $21 ; board, $63; 
fuel and lights, $10; washing and lodging, $10; text books, 
$6; amusement apparatus, $10. 

As this circular may fall into the hands of some who 
have not read the new code of by-laws passed April 3d, 
1826, and the legislative act of incorporation, passed March 
2ist, 1826, it may be advisable to state as follows: 

The Rensselaer School was founded by the Honorable 
Stephen Van Rensselaer, solely for the purpose of affording 



PREPARATION BRANCH ESTABLISHED 57 

an opportunity to the farmer, the mechanic, the clergyman, 
the lawyer, the physician, the merchant, and in short, to 
the man of business or of leisure, of any calling whatever, to 
become practically scientific. Though the branches which 
are not taught here are held in high estimation, it is believed 
that a school attempting every thing makes proficients in 
nothing. The Rensselaer School, therefore, is limited to an 

EXPERIMENTAL COURSE in the NATURAL SCIENCES, The 

studies of the preparation branch are extended no farther 
than is necessary, as auxiliaries to the experimental 
course. 

The FALL TERM Commences on the third Wednesday in 
July, and continues 15 weeks. 

The WINTER TERM commences on the third Wednesday in 
November, and continues 12 weeks. 

The SPRING TERM commcnccs on the first Wednesday in 
March, and continues until the last Wednesday in June; 
which is the day of the annual commencement. 

Expenses. All the same as in the preparation branch, 
with the addition of double the charge for tuition in the 
fall and spring terms, on account of the great additional 
labor required for teaching the student to perform with his 
own hands about sixteen hundred experiments in chemistry 
and natural philosophy. But students who have gone 
through a course in the preparation branch with success 
will not be required to attend the winter term. This will 
reduce the necessary expenses to about $95 for the whole 
experimental course. 

Many unsuccessful attempts have been made to render 
science amusing to the youthful mind. They have gen- 
erally proved very unprofitable, by diverting the attention 
of the student from literary pursuits, and by creating an 
attachment to useless, and often demoralizing, sports. By 
the plan adopted at this school, the objections to scholastic 
amusements are effectually obviated; and it will appear, 
by this circular, that those have been selected which will 
give due exercise to both body and mind. The muscular 



58 HISTORY OF RENSSELAER INSTITUTE 

powers of the body will be called into action, and their 
forces will be directed by mental ingenuity, until the 
student becomes familiar with the most important scientific 
manipulations, and particularly with those which will be 
most useful in the common concerns of life. 

The Rensselaerean scheme for communicating scientific 
knowledge had never been attempted on either continent, 
until it was instituted at this school, two years ago. Many 
indeed mistook it, at first, for Fellenberg's method ; but its 
great superiority has now been satisfactorily tested by its 
effects. As the experimental school, as well as the prepara- 
tion branch, were founded solely for the public benefit by 
its disinterested patron, it is the particular desire of the 
trustees, that its excellences should be understood and imi- 
tated at other schools, as set forth in a former circular. 
Like other useful inventions, much expense was required 
for making the first experiment. Fortunately for science, 
the trial has been fairly made at the expense of many 
thousands, advanced by a single individual. Now it may 
be followed, in its chief advantages, by every school dis- 
trict; while the parent school at Troy will prepare compe- 
tent teachers. 

By order of the Trustees. 

Samuel Blatchford, President. 

Rensselaer School, Troy, N. Y., Sept. 14, 1826. 



CHAPTER V 

THE NAME CHANGED TO RENSSELAER INSTITUTE. 
REMOVAL TO THE VAN DER HEYDEN MANSION 

It has been seen that from its beginning an es- 
sential part of the educational system of the school 
consisted in an examination of workshops and 
factories in the neighborhood of Troy and in botan- 
ical and geological excursions in its immediate 
vicinity. It was determined to extend such excur- 
sions to more distant points in order to afford 
better facilities for the practical study of miner- 
alogy and geology. At a meeting of the board of 
trustees held February 12, 1827, a by-law was 
passed requiring each student to make "a tour of 
about three weeks along the transition and second- 
ary district of the Erie Canal immediately after 
commencement and across the primitive district in 
an eastern direction immediately after the close of 
the fall term." In a circular of six pages, written 
by Amos Eaton, entitled, ''Rensselaer School Flo- 
tilla for the Summer of 1830," the programme of a 
proposed travelling tour for that year is given in 
detail. It was to begin on the twenty-third of June 
and to last ten weeks. Students taking it were to 
meet at the dock at the lower end of Cortlandt 
Street in New York City and to proceed by steam- 
boat to Albany, whence a flotilla of canal-boats 

was to take them through the Erie Canal to Lake 

59 



60 HISTORY OF RENSSELAER INSTITUTE 

Erie. They were to return by the same route. 
Daily lectures were to be given in the morning, and 
in the afternoon botanical and geological excursions 
were to be made. The boats were to move slowly 
so that specimens could be obtained at any point 
along the route. There is a list of twenty-nine 
places to be visited, Trenton Falls, Niagara Falls, 
and Lockport being included. This trip was not 
obligatory, and in succeeding publications three 
excursions which might be substituted for it are 
enumerated: one to the Connecticut River, one to 
the Helderberg, and the third to Carbondale, Pa., 
and Amboy, N. J. 

At this time the total cost of attendance for one 
year, including excursions, was said to be $230, 
though it was observed that a young gentleman of 
tolerable economy could reduce this to $170. 

At the trustee meeting to which reference has 
just been made there was also added to the curricu- 
lum the requirement that students should speak 
extemporaneously once a week during the winter 
term and twice a month during the other terms. 

At the same time the first "Prudential Commit- 
tee," consisting of the president and two trustees, 
was appointed. Succeeding boards have retained 
this committee, which has the power to perform, 
between the regular meetings of the board, such 
duties as can not properly be delayed. 

To further increase the usefulness of the institu- 
tion the faculty were authorized, M-ay 24, 1827, to 
establish district branches in any part of the State 
when application was made and assurance given 



THE NAME CHANGED— REMOVAL 61 

by responsible persons that suitable rooms and 
sufficient apparatus would be supplied. The object 
was to accommodate those who wished to be edu- 
cated and yet were unable to leave home for the 
whole or even a part of the year. It was provided 
that the branch students were to be taught that 
part of the annual course which did not require 
expensive apparatus ; ' ' for more than three-fourths 
of an experimental course of scientific instruction 
may be taught with apparatus worth but one 
hundred dollars; whereas the remaining fourth re- 
quires apparatus worth three or four thousand 
dollars." Should they desire, they might then 
come to the school, and after devoting nine weeks 
to that part of the course requiring expensive ap- 
paratus, they would be received as candidates for 
the Rensselaer degree on an equal footing with 
those who had spent the whole year at Troy. 

Complete directions for introducing experimental 
science in academies and common schools were also 
given at this time. Besides information in relation 
to the regular work to be pursued, advice was given 
regarding the "amusements." Under this head 
occurs the clause: "A level sufficiently accurate 
may be made by any one, with the cost of a spirit- 
level tube of but a few shillings' value. Such stu- 
dents may then be taught the general outlines of 
civil engineering, land surveying, etc., in lieu of 
mischievous tricks, degrading contortions called 
gymnastics, and profane language." The circular 
from which this quotation is taken was dated 
September 19, 1828. There is added to it a note 



62 HISTORY OF RENSSELAER INSTITUTE 

in which we are informed that forty mechanics, 
members of the Mechanics' Institute of Troy, 
placed themselves under the direction of the Rens- 
selaer School during the winter of 1827, and that 
most of them became tolerably proficient in ex- 
perimental chemistry as applied to the arts and 
manufactures. They were notregularmembersofthe 
school but paid one of the professors to teach them. 

All these efforts show the active interest dis- 
played by the founder and the ofiicers of the school 
in the extension of the experimental system and 
the diffusion of scientific knowledge. To extend 
still further the benefits of the institution, Mr. Van 
Rensselaer, while in the House of Representatives, 
wrote from Washington the following letter to the 
president of the Institute. It was dated December 
31, 1827: 

"Dear Sir: I take the liberty of suggesting to 
you and the trustees the propriety of offering the 
school (over which you preside with so much dig- 
nity and usefulness) to the Legislature, to educate 
teachers, as proposed by Governor Clinton in his 
message at a former session of the Legislature — 
perhaps an amendment to the charter, extending 
the power of the trustees to change the location of 
the School, if they deem it necessary." 

Nothing having come from this suggestion, he 
caused, in 1828, an invitation to be given to each 
county of the State to furnish a student, selected 
by the clerk of the county, for gratuitous instruc- 
tion at Troy. This invitation was accepted by 
nearly all the counties. The students thus in- 



THE NAME CHANGED— REMOVAL 63 

structed were required to teach the experimental 
and demonstrative method in their own counties 
for a period of one year. 

The authorities of the school seem also to have 
had, for those days, advanced ideas in regard to 
the education of women, for we find, as an adden- 
dum to a circular dated October 29, 1828, the fol- 
lowing ''Notice by A. Eaton, in his private capacity. 
'At the urgent solicitations of several judicious 
friends, a lady, well qualified for the duty, will 
take charge of two experimental courses in chem- 
istry and natural philosophy, in each year, for 
ladies: similar to the courses proposed for gentle- 
men in the annexed circular. They will be nine- 
week courses, at the same times and for the same 
charges. But no extemporaneous lectures will be 
required, excepting of those ladies who wish to 
prepare for giving instruction.'" 

And in the minutes of the board there is a copy 
of a letter from Professor Eaton to the examiners, 
dated February ii, 1835, in which he requests 
them to give an informal examination to eight 
young ladies, who had been instructed for one 
quarter in practical mathematics, "so far as to be 
enabled to draw a fair comparison between the 
study of speculative geometry and algebra as gen- 
erally practised in female seminaries and this mode 
of applying mathematics to the essential calcu- 
lations of geography, astronomy, meteorology, 
necessary admeasurements, etc." The examiners 
complied with his request and were highly grati- 
fied at the progress made by the class. 



64 HISTORY OF RENSSELAER INSTITUTE 

It may be explained that all examinations, in the 
early period of the school's history, were made by 
boards composed of from three to six qualified per- 
sons appointed by the trustees. None of the mem- 
bers of these boards was connected with the school. 

Professor Eaton's pronounced opinions upon the 
educational methods generally pursued in schools 
for young men have been illustrated in preceding 
pages. These extended to the education of women 
as well, and the manner in which he expressed them 
was quite as forcible in the one case as in the other. 
He remarks, at the end of a printed synopsis of the 
mathematical course for the year 1834-5: "The 
waste of time in many female schools, by the fash- 
ionable mummery of algebra, half-learned and 
never applied, has caused many to ascribe the 
failure in mathematics to the perversion of female 
genius, when it is drawn from elegant literature, 
music, painting, etc., to the severe sciences. The 
true cause is to be found in parsimony, which ex- 
cludes competent teachers, badly selected subjects 
and wretchedly compiled text-books. Our country 
is inundated with wild schemes of learning; while 
the speculating book-sellers are sending their 
harpie-like pedlars to rob our youth of the last 
fragments of common sense." 

Although by the year 1829, after a trial of four 
years, it had been conclusively proved that the 
experimental and demonstrative method, as they 
called it, was successful as a system of instruction, 
the institution had not been self-supporting. Its 
founder paid each year more than one-half of its 



1 
i 




Dormitorv, 1905- 




Students' Club House, 1908- 




Carnegie Building, 1906- 




Walker Chemical Laboratory, 1906- 



THE NAME CHANGED— REMOVAL 65 

expenses. This was becoming burdensome to him, 
and he signified to the trustees his desire to dis- 
continue it, and especially his intention of discon- 
tinuing the gratuitous education of county students 
after October, 1829. He did not, in fact, cease to 
contribute to the support of the school, but in con- 
sequence of this declaration it was "farmed out" 
in November, 1829, to Amos Eaton for a period of 
one year. He was constituted the "Agent" of the 
trustees to transact all the pecuniary business of the 
institution, which, however, was to remain under 
the control of the board. He relinquished all claim 
for compensation, and in consequence was author- 
ized to receive and expend all moneys at his dis- 
cretion and to retain all profits for his own benefit. 
An inventory of the property was made and he was 
permitted to use it for purposes of instruction. 
This arrangement was continued for one year 
only, as he terminated it in September, 1830, al- 
though he still acted as agent and retained his po- 
sition as Senior Professor. 

In spite of pecuniary embarrassments, im- 
provements were continually being made both in 
the instruction and the equipment of the labora- 
tories. The prospectus for the eighth annual 
course shows that in 183 1-2 the year had been 
divided into seventeen sub-terms of three weeks 
each, of which, however, three, called "reading 
terms," might be used either to visit friends or for 
a course of reading in the library. The fifteenth 
and sixteenth sub-terms were occupied in the trav- 
elling tours to which reference has been made. 



66 HISTORY OF RENSSELAER INSTITUTE 

During the morning exercises of the year, each 
student had to give one hundred and eighty extem- 
poraneous lectures, upon which he was closely 
criticized. These lectures were illustrated by about 
twelve hundred experiments performed by him- 
self, and by "suits" of minerals, plants and animals. 

At this time the equipment included a reading- 
room, a natural history room, a philosophy room, 
and three laboratories. Considerable additions had 
been made to the apparatus as described in the cir- 
culars of 1826. The philosophy room now con- 
tained an air-pump, a force-pump, barometer, 
thermometers, pluviometer, solar microscope, meg- 
ascope, standing microscope, magic lantern, tel- 
escope, lenses, convex and concave mirrors, prisms, 
electrical-machine, galvanic battery, electromag- 
netic instruments, magnets, sextant, theodolite, 
compass and chain, mechanical powers, hydro- 
static bellows, hydrostatic and hydraulic cylinders 
and tubes, hydrometers and glass pumps. 

The laboratories were furnished with the neces- 
sary forges, furnaces, bellows, lead-pots, Argand 
lamps, common lamps, iron retorts, or gun-barrels 
for gases, anvils, anvil hammers, cisterns, pipes for 
conducting gases from the barrels, gas-pistol, iron 
stand, iron mortar, and mercurial bath. 

In the meantime, the Rev. Samuel Blatchford, 
after earnest and successful labor in behalf of the 
school, died March 27, 1828, and was succeeded by 
the Rev. John Chester, a clergyman of Albany, who 
was appointed June 25, 1828. His term was, how- 
ever, a short one, as he was compelled, on account 



THE NAME CHANGED— REMOVAL 67 

of ill health, to resign in about six months. He was 
succeeded by the Rev. EHphalet Nott, appointed 
September 2, 1829, who was at the same time presi- 
dent of Union College. 

During the first seven years of its existence the 
school had been situated at the corner of Middle- 
burgh and River streets, in the building formerly 
occupied by the Farmers' Bank, and known, at the 
time of its establishment, as the Old Bank Place. 
Partly because it had not yet become self-sup- 
porting and partly because it was, in some respects, 
not conveniently situated, it was determined to 
obtain authority from the Legislature to change its 
location if satisfactory arrangements could be 
made. An act was consequently passed April 26, 
1832, which gave the trustees power, after October 
23, 1832, if the patron consented, to remove to the 
site of the Greenbush and Schodack Academy, in 
the town of Greenbush, in Rensselaer county, and 
to unite with this academy if its trustees consented. 
In this case the united institution was to be called 
the Rensselaer Institute. If, however, the patron 
or the trustees of the academy objected, the trus- 
tees of Rensselaer School were given authority to 
remove the institution, after the consent of Ste- 
phen Van Rensselaer had been given, to any part 
of Rensselaer county and to continue as an experi- 
mental and classical school under the name of the 
Rensselaer Institute. 

The inquiries and negotiations made, in relation 
to the removal to Greenbush, were not satisfactory, 
as may be seen from the following letter written by 



68 HISTORY OF RENSSELAER INSTITUTE 

the patron to the Rev. Dr. Nott and read at a 
meeting of the board of trustees held November 
i8, 1833: 

"Albany, November 18, 1833. 
" To the President and Trustees of the Rensselaer 
School: 
^^ Gentlemen: Sufficient provision for the support 
of said school not being offered to its location at 
Greenbush, according to the first section of the 
amendment of April 26, 1832, I feel bound in duty 
to object to its removal to Greenbush. But under 
present circumstances, I cheerfully consent to a 
removal to the Van der Heyden mansion, or to any 
other suitable building near the central part of said 
city of Troy. 

" Respectfully your humble servant, 

" S. V. Rensselaer." 

Among the by-laws passed at this meeting was 
one by which the name of the school was changed 
to the " Rensselaer Institute," which was to include 
an "experimental and classical department." At 
the same time, the scholastic yearivas divided into 
two terms instead of three, the winter term, six- 
teen weeks in duration, to commence on the third 
Wednesday in November; and the summer term, 
of twenty-four weeks, to begin on the last Wednes- 
day in April. Each term was divided into sub- 
terms of four weeks each. It was also resolved to 
remove to the Van der Heyden mansion on or be- 
fore April, 1834. This building was selected on 
account of its size and convenience of access. It 



THE NAME CHANGED— REMOVAL 69 

was situated on the southwest corner of Eighth and 
Grand Division streets, and the removal took place 
in April, 1834. 

During the occupation of the Old Bank Place 
the number of students at any one time had never 
exceeded and was generally less than twenty-five. 
The number of teachers was regulated by the num- 
ber of students, one being assigned to each section 
of five or six. The triennial catalogue for 1832-3-4 
gives a list of twenty-five instructors who had 
already been connected with the school. The small 
number of students was partly due to the standard 
required for entrance to the regular course; at one 
time twelve of the twenty-five present were grad- 
uates or members of colleges. In the notices for 
the ninth annual course, 1832-3, during the time 
that the change of location was being considered, it 
is remarked: ''None are received but those whose 
minds are disciplined to habits of study. Hence it 
is that the patron has already advanced over 
twenty-two thousand dollars in support of the 
school for eight years. To improve the plan of 
education is his object; not to establish a school at 
any particular location. Therefore, patronage is 
not asked. These terms are printed, not for the 
benefit of the school, but for the benefit of those 
who wish to profit by the improvements made by 
trials which cost the patron many thousands," 

The first clause of the preceding quotation could 
hardly have referred to the junior members of the 
school, in the Preparation Branch; as Rule 8 of 
the by-laws of 1835 reads: " In case of any disobe- 



70 HISTORY OF RENSSELAER INSTITUTE 

dience of any juniors to orders of teachers, after 
being particularly called to obey, it shall be the 
duty of said professor to lay hands on such diso- 
bedient student and remove him from the prem- 
ises, or confine him (in such a manner as to cause 
no personal injury) for a time not exceeding two 
hours. But no beating or flagellation shall in any 
case be permitted at the Institute." 



CHAPTER VI 

ESTABLISHMENT OF THE DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL 
ENGINEERING 

The preceding pages show that the original in- 
tention of the founder was to establish a school for 
the diffusion of scientific knowledge, and that his 
object more particularly was to disseminate among 
farmers, mechanics, and the poorer classes gener- 
ally information in relation to the application of 
scientific principles to their various occupations 
which would enable them to improve their material 
condition. At the same time, the management of 
the institution was of too broadminded a character 
to permit its benefits to be confined to any partic- 
ular branch of practical science, and, although 
many of those who had up to this time been gradu- 
ated afterward became eminent in various depart- 
ments of pure and applied science, the renown of 
the school is principally due to the work of its 
alumni in the field of engineering — a course in 
which was about to be added to the curriculum. 

Some of the principles of certain branches of the 
science now broadly called civil engineering had 
been known, of course, since the earliest historical 
times. Besides various branches of natural science 
some of these principles were taught, in this coun- 
try, in the early founded schools and colleges to 

71 



72 



HISTORY OF RENSSELAER INSTITUTE 



which reference already has been made. They 
were taught, also, in the Military Academy at West 
Point, which was established in 1802, though it 
was a school in name only until its reorganization 
after the war of 1812. No school of civil as dis- 
tinguished from military engineering, however, 
had yet been established in any English-speaking 
country, although on the continent of Europe a 
number of technical institutions had been founded, 
most of which were maintained partly or wholly at 
the expense of the state. The Ecole des Fonts et 
Chaussees was established in France as early as 
1747, though it did not become of importance as a 
school for engineers until a much later period, and 
the Konigliche Sachsische Bergakademie (Frei- 
berg) was founded in 1765. Among other conti- 
nental technical schools of early date which after- 
wards became well known may be mentioned the 
Ecole Polytechnique (Paris, 1794), ^ school of 
general science, having for its principal object the 
preparation of students for several special govern- 
ment technical institutions, including the School 
of Bridges and Roads above mentioned; the Poly- 
technisches Institut (Vienna, 1815), intended for 
the education of engineers, architects and manu- 
facturers; and the Konigliches Gewerbe Institut 
(Berlin, 1821), which at the time of its foundation 
and for twenty-five years thereafter was, as its 
name indicates, a trade rather than an engineering 
school. The Technische Bohmische Standische 
Lehranstalt (Prague) came into existence in 1806. 
Beside these, which depended largely upon govern- 



DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING 73 

ment aid, a private institution, the Ecole Centrale 
des Arts et Manufactures (Paris, 1829), attained 
prominence as a school of engineering immediately 
upon its establishment. Before 1835 ^ f^w other 
technical schools of less importance, containing 
trade-school features, had been founded in the 
German states. 

The continental schools of science antedated 
those of Great Britain. Among the English schools 
in which scientific instruction was early given, 
may be mentioned University College, London, 
which was opened in 1828 under the name of the 
University of London, and King's College, London, 
established by royal charter in 1829. In the Uni- 
versity of London engineering subjects were first 
taught in 1 840 and in the same year a chair of civil 
engineering and mechanics was established by 
Queen Victoria in the University of Glasgow. The 
School of Engineering in Dublin University (Trin- 
ity College) was founded in 1842. The other well- 
known British schools of science were established 
at still later dates. Among them are Owens Col- 
lege, Manchester (1851); the Department of En- 
gineering in the University of Edinburgh (1868); 
the Royal Indian Engineering College, London 
(1871), and Mason College, Birmingham (1875). 

Although science and some branches of engineer- 
ing were taught in the early foreign schools, at the 
time of the foundation of Rensselaer School, there 
were few engineers other than military engineers. 
The term Civil, in distinction from Military, 
engineer had been coined during the last quarter of 



74 HISTORY OF RENSSELAER INSTITUTE 

the eighteenth century, it is believed by Smeaton,* 
but it did not come into general use until about 
the end of the first quarter of the nineteenth cen- 
tury. There had been, of course, inventors and 
constructors of genius throughout all the ages. 
Great ruins on more than one continent attest the 
skill of forgotten engineers. During the Renais- 
sance, Brunelleschi, Michael Angelo and the great 
Leonardo da Vinci lived and builded, and at the 
later period, about which we have been speaking, 
such names as Smeaton and Watt and Fulton 
come to our minds. But these men had not had an 
engineering education in the schools. 

There were no schools of engineering in the 
United States because civil engineering had hardly 
yet been recognized as a profession. A consider- 
ation of the condition of the country and of the 
state of scientific knowledge as applied to the con- 
structive arts towards the beginning of the nine- 
teenth century shows why this was the case. In 
comparison with the European states, in which the 
early schools of science above mentioned had been 
established, the country was new and sparsely 
settled. In the year 1800 the total population of 
the United States was only 5,300,000. In the same 
year the state of New York contained 589,000 and 
New York City only 60,000 inhabitants. In 1830 
the country had 12,866,000 inhabitants, while New 
York State had 1,919,000, and New York City 

* Address of J. C. Inglis, President of the Institution of Civil Engi- 
neers of Great Britain, November 2, 1909. Published by the Institution, 
London, 1909. 



DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING 75 

203,000. Troy was a village of i,8oo people at the 
former period, and in 1830 this number had in- 
creased to 11,500. Methods of communication 
were primitive and travelling was expensive. 

No canal of considerable length (and these were 
the first engineering works of great magnitude to 
be built here) was begun until after the conclusion 
of the second war with England, that of the Schuyl- 
kill Coal and Navigation Company, 108 miles in 
length, being commenced in 1816 and finished in 
1825. Others in Pennsylvania were commenced 
about the same time, and both the Erie and Cham- 
plain canals were begun in 181 7. By the end of 
the first quarter of the century about 1,400 miles 
of these waterways had been built; but no steam 
railroads existed, locomotives not becoming prac- 
tically successful until about 1830. The first ones 
used weighed only three or four tons, although in 
the years 1836-7 Baldwin of Philadelphia built 
eighty weighing from nine to twelve tons each. 

Steam navigation was in a more forward state: 
the Clermont, a steamer one hundred and thirty- 
three feet in length, built by Fulton and Living- 
ston in 1807, having made the trip up the Hudson 
River from New York to Albany in thirty-two 
hours. A steam ferry-boat ran between Jersey 
City and New York in 18 12, and in 1815 there were 
steamboats running between New York and Provi- 
dence. In the year 1830 there were eighty-six 
steamers on the Hudson River and Long Island 
Sound. The first steamship to cross the Atlantic 
was the Savannah, of 350 tons, built at Corlears 



76 HISTORY OF RENSSELAER INSTITUTE 

Hook, N. Y. The engines, however, were used only 
eighteen out of the twenty-five days required for 
the passage from Savannah to Liverpool, and sails 
had to be depended upon for the remainder of the 
trip. It was not until 1838 that the transatlantic 
voyage was made wholly by steam. In this year 
the Sirius, of 700 tons, crossed from Cork to New 
York in nineteen days, and the Great Western, of 
1,340 tons, made the passage from Bristol to New 
York in fifteen days. 

In the early days of the country the small amount 
of power required for manufacturing purposes was 
obtained principally from wind and water wheels. 
Of the latter, undershot, overshot and breast 
wheels were employed ; and Francis says that until 
1844 high-breast wheels were considered the most 
perfect water-wheels that could be used. Although 
Fourneyron had erected his first turbine, in France, 
in 1827, and Elwood Morris of Pennsylvania had 
shortly afterwards built and put two of them in 
operation in this country, other wheels of this type 
were not used here until about the middle of the 
century. Boyden designed his turbine in 1844; 
and the Manufacturing Companies at Lowell, 
which had begun to improve the water-power of 
the Merrimac in 1822, purchased the right to use it 
in 1849. 

The practical application, in Great Britain, of 
the steam-engine to pumping water from mines led 
to the introduction of the first one of any size ever 
used in America. All of its principal parts were 
imported from England and a mechanic was sent 



DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING 77 

over to erect and run it. It was put together in 
1763 at the Schuyler copper-mine on the Passaic 
River, a few miles above Newark, N. J. Frederick 
Grajff says * that in 1803 there were in use in the 
United States six steam-engines beside the one 
referred to above; two at the Philadelphia water- 
works, one just about being started at the Man- 
hattan water-works in New York, one in Boston, 
one in Roosevelt's saw-mill in New York, and 
quite a small one used by Oliver Evans to grind 
plaster of paris, in Philadelphia. The first steam- 
engine built in America is said to have been con- 
structed in 1772 by Christopher CoUes for a dis- 
tillery in Philadelphia, but it was very defective. 
Those of the Philadelphia water-works were built 
in 1800 at the Soho Works of Roosevelt, near New- 
ark, N. J. From this time onward the application 
of steam as a source of power for manufacturing 
purposes increased with the demands of the times. 
Improvements — dictated by experience, for little 
was known of the theory — were continually made, 
and by the middle of the century the various 
types had assumed practically the proportions 
used at the present time. 

One of the first tunnels built in the United 
States was on the Allegheny Portage Railroad in 
Pennsylvania. It was built in 1831 and was 900 
feet long. The Black Rock tunnel on the Reading 
Railroad was built in 1836. It was 1,932 feet long. 



* Notice of the Earliest Steam-engines used in the United States, by 
Frederick Graff, in Journal of the Franklin Institute, 1853. 



78 HISTORY OF RENSSELAER INSTITUTE 

In 1820 one of the first cast-iron water-mains in 
the country was laid for the Philadelphia water- 
works. 

Bridges of wood and stone had, of course, been 
built almost from the time of settlement of the 
country. Some of the former were of long span 
and reflected the greatest credit upon the genius 
of their constructors, who, however, had only 
empiric methods of proportioning the parts. Palm- 
er, Burr and Wernwag were the most noted 
builders at the beginning of the century. The Pis- 
catauqua bridge, built by Palmer, near Ports- 
mouth, N. H., included an arch span 244 feet in 
length; and his Schuylkill River bridge had two 
arch spans 150 feet and one 195 feet long. Be- 
tween 1804 and 1808 Burr built his Waterford, 
Trenton and Schenectady bridges, with spans 
ranging from 150 to 203 feet, and, from 18 12 to 
1 8 16, the Harrisburgh bridge, with twelve spans of 
about 210 feet each. Wernwag built his "Colos- 
sus" over the Schuylkill at Philadelphia in 1812. 
The span was 340 feet. Town patented his lattice 
truss in 1820, and Howe's patent was not taken out 
until 1840. The era of iron bridges did not begin 
until 1840. Finley had built a number of small 
suspension bridges of chain cables between 1796 
and 1 8 10; and in 18 10 Templeman replaced the 
160-foot span of Palmer's Essex-Merrimac bridge 
by one of chain cables. Paine's memoir on cast- 
iron bridges was printed in 1803, and.Canfield took 
out the first patent for an iron truss bridge in 1833; 
but the first iron truss bridge built in this country 



DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING 79 

is believed to be the one erected in 1840 by 
Trumbull over the Erie Canal at Frankford.* 
In the same year Whipple built his first iron 
bridge. 

The few historical facts above given serve to 
indicate the condition of engineering science at the 
period of the school's history which we are now 
considering. Although many of the fundamental 
principles of applied mechanics were known as well 
then as now, the development of the science, par- 
ticularly in its application to structures and 
machines for the production of useful work, had 
taken place largely upon empiric lines. Most of 
the eminent men to whom this development had 
been due were self-taught, were mechanics whose 
results had been obtained by successive experi- 
ments and with little knowledge of the resistance 
of materials or of the principles of the design of 
engineering constructions as practised to-day. 
And if with these conditions there are taken into 
consideration the comparative smallness of the 
population and its extended geographical distri- 
bution, the wise forethought and liberality of mind 
displayed by the authorities of the school in estab- 
lishing at such an early date a department of civil 
engineering will be thoroughly appreciated. 

In the pamphlet published in March, 1825, 
giving the constitution and laws of the school an 
outline of the course of study was printed among 



* American Railroad Bridges, by Theodore Cooper, in Transactions 
of the American Society of Civil Engineers, July, 1889. 



80 HISTORY OF RENSSELAER INSTITUTE 

the by-laws. This included instruction in land 
surveying, mensuration, measurements of the ve- 
locity of flow of water in rivers and aqueducts and 
other subjects now to be found in the curriculum 
of a course in civil engineering. These by-laws were 
elaborated in the circular of April, 1826, and 
Article 3, printed on a previous page of this his- 
tory, shows that instruction was given in hydro- 
statics and hydrodynamics, including calculations 
upon the application of water power, as well as 
steam, to various machines. The catalogue pub- 
lished in 1828 gives the duties of the Senior Profes- 
sor. Besides other subjects he was required to give 
lectures on land surveying and civil engineering. 
This is the first appearance of the term "civil 
engineering" in any of the circulars, and no well- 
defined course in the subject was formulated for 
several years. In the "Notices for the Eighth 
Annual Course" (183 1-2), to which reference has 
before been made, the first sub-term, beginning 
November 16, was devoted to "Practical Math- 
ematics, including mensuration applied to land 
surveying, timber and cord-wood measure, exca- 
vations, docks, etc.," and the second sub-term, 
from December 7 to December 28, to "Trigo- 
nometry, Navigation and the elements of Civil 
Engineering." The fifteenth and sixteenth sub- 
terms, from September 12 to October 24, were 
occupied in the "application of Engineering and 
Natural History to the occurrences^ of four travel- 
ling tours — to Connecticut River, to the Helder- 
berg, to Carbondale coal beds and to New Jersey." 




Russell Sage Laboratory, Front View, 1909- 




Russell Sage Laboratory, Rear View ; Boiler House, 1908- 




Approach at Head of Broadway, 1907- 




Approach, with Students 



DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING 81 

These quotations include all references to the sub- 
ject; and in the "Notices" for the ninth annual 
course civil engineering is not specifically men- 
tioned, though this was an octavo circular con- 
taining only three printed pages. 

In 1833 the curriculum in the experimental 
department contained "Practical Mathematics, in- 
cluding Surveying, Engineering, Navigation, Lat- 
itude and Longitude, etc., from the 3rd Wednes- 
day in November, 12 weeks." In the original 
minutes of the board of trustees we find a record of 
the examinations of fourteen students in surveying 
and in engineering. These were held February 11 
and 12, 1834. 

Up to this time the degree of Bachelor of Arts, 
A.B. (r.s.), was the only one conferred by the insti- 
tution, and although the course in engineering had 
been gradually developing it had not yet been dif- 
ferentiated from that in general science. Prepara- 
tory to the separation of these two branches the 
Legislature was petitioned to amend the charter of 
the school. This was done by an act dated May 
9, 1835. The second section of this law reads as 
follows: "The said board of trustees shall have 
the power to establish a department of mathemat- 
ical arts, for the purpose of giving instruction in 
engineering and technology, as a branch of said 
institute; and to receive and apply donations for 
procuring instruments and other facilities suitable 
for giving such instruction in a practical manner, 
and to authorize the president of said institute to 
confer certificates on students in said department 



82 HISTORY OF RENSSELAER INSTITUTE 

in testimony of their respective qualifications for 
practical operations in the mathematical arts." 

At a meeting of the board of trustees held May 
22, 1835, their number was increased, in accordance 
with a provision of the above-mentioned act, by 
the addition of the Mayor, Recorder and Alder- 
man of the Fourth Ward of the city of Troy; and 
it was resolved that "A department of Mathemati- 
cal Arts is hereby established as a branch of the 
Institute for the purpose of giving instruction in 
Engineering and Technology." At the same meet- 
ing it was decided that the degree of Bachelor of 
Natural Science, B.N.S., should thereafter be con- 
ferred instead of Bachelor of Arts, and that grad- 
uates in the department of Mathematical Arts 
should receive the degree of Civil Engineer. Also 
that "no one shall receive the last-mentioned de- 
gree until he shall have been regularly disciplined 
at this school at least two quarters, after being well 
taught in elementary mathematics here, or else- 
where." 

The first class in civil engineering was graduated 
in 1835. The first four candidates for the degree 
were recommended in the following letter from the 
examiners, dated October 14, 1835: 
" To the Revd. E. Nott, D.D., President: 

"We have examined Edward Suffern, William 
Clement, Jacob Eddy, and Amos Westcott as can- 
didates for the degree of Civil Engineer. We find 
them acquainted with the theory of practice. But 
as this is the first class proposed to be graduated, 
their own honor and the honor of this institution 



DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING 83 

demand great caution in conferring degrees. We 
therefore recommend as follows: that they receive 
the degrees but that the diplomas be left with the 
Secretary until the President shall receive satis- 
factory certificates that they have reviewed their 
text books (outlines Gregory), that they can read 
algebraic equations, and have a general knowledge 
of Perspective generally. 

"A. R. JuDAH, Chairman. 

"P.H.Green, )^ 

Harvey Warner, ) 
By this time a complete curriculum in civil 
engineering had been established. It was printed 
in a circular which will be given in full, as it is be- 
lieved to be the first prospectus of a school of civil 
engineering ever printed in English. It is well 
worth perusal, not only because the curriculum 
outlined contains much information regarding the 
most advanced scientific instruction given in this 
country at that period, but because the concluding 
paragraphs throw a curious light upon the expenses 
of students and the general requirements necessary 
for graduation. 

NOTICES OF RENSSELAER INSTITUTE 

Troy, N. Y., October 14, 1835 
[Being the answer to letters of inquiry.] 

Hon. Stephen Van Rensselaer, Patron, with the right 
to appoint the Annual Board of Examiners. 

ACTING FACULTY 

Rev. E. NoTT, D.D., President — also President of Union 
College. 



84 HISTORY OF RENSSELAER INSTITUTE 

Judge David Buel, Jr., Vice President. 

Amos Eaton, Senior Professor, and Professor of Civil 
Engineering; also holding the Agency and Supervision of 
the Institute. 

Ebenezer Emmons, Junior Professor. 

James Hall, Professor of Chemistry and Physiology. 

Assistants — Edward Suffern and D. S. Smalley. 

Ifistruction, wholly practical, illustrated by Experiments 
and Specimens, is given 40 weeks in each year. Five days in 
each week the forenoon exercises are from 8 A.M. to i p.m. 

Winter Session commences the third Wednesday in 
November, and continues 16 weeks. During the first 12 
weeks, each forenoon is devoted to practical Mathematics, 
Arithmetical and Geometrical. This is a most important 
course for men of business, young and old. During the 
last 4 weeks of the Winter Term, extemporaneous Speaking 
on the subjects of Logic, Rhetoric, Geology, Geography, 
and History, is the forenoon exercise. Throughout the 
whole session the afternoon exercises are Composition, and 
in fair weather, exercises in various Mathematical Arts. A 
course of Lectures on National and Municipal Law is given 
by the Senior Professor. 

Summer Session commences on the last Wednesday in 
April, and continues 24 weeks: ending with Commencement. 

Students of the Natural Science Department are instructed 
as follows: 

Three weeks, wholly practical Botany, with specimens. 

Four weeks, Zoology, including organic remains; and 
Physiology, including the elements of Organic Chemistry. 

Three and a half weeks. Geology and Mineralogy, with 
specimens. 

Three weeks, traveling between Connecticut River and 
Schoharie Kill, for making collections to be preserved by 
each student, and exhibited at examinations; also for im- 
proving in the knowledge of Natural History and Math- 
ematical Arts. 

Ten weeks. Chemistry and Natural Philosophy. 



DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING 85 

Half a week, preparing for examinations and Commence- 
ment. 

The afternoons of all fair days are devoted to Surveying, 
Engineering, and various Mathematical Arts — also to Min- 
eralizing, Botanizing, and to collecting and preserving sub- 
jects in Zoology. 

Students of the Engineer Corps are instructed as follows: 

Eight weeks, in learning the use of Instruments; as Com- 
pass, Chain, Scale, Protractor, Dividers, Level, Quadrant, 
Sextant, Barometer, Hydrometer, Hygrometer, Pluviom- 
eter, Thermometer, Telescope, Microscope, etc., with 
their applications to Surveying, Protracting, Leveling, cal- 
culating Excavations and Embankments, taking Heights 
and Distances, Specific Gravity and Weight of Liquids, 
Degrees of Moisture, Storms, Temperature, Latitude and 
Longitude by lunar observations and eclipses. 

Eight weeks, Mechanical Powers, Circles, Conic Sections, 
construction of Bridges, Arches, Piers, Rail-Roads, Canals, 
running Circles for Rail-Ways, correcting the errors of 
long Levels, caused by refraction and the Earth's convexity, 
calculating the height of the atmosphere by twilight, and 
its whole weight on any given portion of the Earth, its 
pressure on Hills and in Valleys as affecting the height for 
fixing the lower valve of a Pump ; in calculating the Moon's 
distance by its horizontal parallax, and the distances of 
Planets by proportionals of cubes of times to squares of 
distances. 

Four weeks, in calculating the quantity of Water per 
second, etc., supplied by streams as feeders for Canals, or 
for turning Machinery; in calculating the velocity and 
quantity effused per second, etc., from flumes and various 
vessels, under various heads; the results of various ac- 
celerating and retarding forces of water flowing in open 
raceways and pipes of waterworks, and in numerous 
miscellaneous calculations respecting Hydrostatics and 
Hydrodynamics. 

Four weeks, study the effect of Steam and inspect its 



86 HISTORY OF RENSSELAER INSTITUTE 

various applications — Wind, as applied to Machinery; also 
Electro-Magnetism — inspect the principal Mills, Factories, 
and other Machinery or works which come within the 
province of Mathematical Arts; also, study as much Geol- 
ogy as may be required for judging of Rocks and Earth 
concerned in construction. 

Fees for instruction, including all Lectures, Experiments, 
etc.; also for use of Instruments, Apparatus, Library and 
Specimens, $4 for each sub-term of four weeks. No student 
received for less than a sub-term. No extra charge except- 
ing $8 for the course of Experimental Chemistry, where each 
student gives a course of experiments with his own hands. 

Students furnish their own fuel, light, and text-books. 
Each boards where he pleases; but the Professors will aid 
strangers in the selection of boarding houses. A small num- 
ber of strangers are boarded at the School at $2 per week; 
they furnishing their own bedding, washing, etc. 

The Rensselaer degree of Bachelor of Natural Science is 
conferred on all qualified persons of 17 years or upwards. 
The Rensselaer degree of Civil Engineer is conferred on 
candidates of 17 years and upwards, who are well qualified 
in that department. This power was given to the Presi- 
dent, by an amendment to the Charter, passed last session 
of the Legislature. Candidates are admitted to the Insti- 
tute who have a good knowledge of Arithmetic, and can 
understand good authors readily, and can compose with 
considerable facility. 

After a trial of two seasons, it is found to be inexpedient 
to enter young lads in the regular divisions, before they 
have sufficient pride of character to govern their conduct 
when preparing for their exercises in the absence of a 
teacher; arrangements will, therefore, be made for having 
a teacher always present with them, when they are not in 
the immediate charge of a Professor or Assistant. 

Students in any one department have the'right to attend 
one Experimental Lecture each day in the other depart- 
ments, free of expense. 



DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING 87 

One year is sufficient for obtaining the Rensselaer degree 
of Bachelor of Natural Science, or of Civil Engineer, for a 
candidate who is well prepared to enter. Graduates of 
Colleges may succeed by close application during the 
24 weeks in the Summer term. 

Candidates may commence the course at the beginning 
of any sub-term ; but the third Wednesday of November 
to be preferred, unless the candidate is a graduate of a 
regular College or otherwise well instructed in general 
Mathematics and Literature. In such cases the last Wed- 
nesday in April is the most suitable time of entering. His 
theoretical views may then be reduced to practice during 
the Summer course. 

The degree of Master of Arts is conferred after two years 
of practical application. 

Gentlemen wishing to learn the outline of the terms of 
the Rensselaer Institute are requested to pay postage on 
their letters; and they will receive this printed notice. If 
this appears to be a ''narrow notice,'' I will state that I 
paid $54.28 in one year in postage for letters on others' 
business: some for our school course, more for advice about 
mines, minerals, and visionary projects. 

Amos Eaton, Agent. 

Rensselaer Institute, Troy, Oct. 14, 1835. 

A better understanding of the scope of the in- 
struction given, about this time ^ may be obtained 
from an examination paper covering the work of 
the winter term in the department of Mathemati- 
cal Arts. This was submitted to fifteen students; 
and the results of the examination are given in a 
report of three examiners, dated February 23, 1836. 
There were fifty-three questions, which will be 
found in Appendix I. 

A "Periodical Notice" of Rensselaer Institute 



88 HISTORY OF RENSSELAER INSTITUTE 

dated 1838 and 1839 is addressed "To Principal 
Engineers and Commissioners of Rail- Roads, 
Canals, Topographical Surveys, Milling -Works, 
Water-Works, etc. Also, to Teachers of Scientific 
Institutions, where practical instruction is re- 
quired, in Chemistry, Geology, Botany, etc." 
Several paragraphs from it are quoted as follows: 

"This Institute has been in full operation for fourteen 
years. It has furnished numerous practical men in the 
above departments, including Geological Surveyors, etc., 
to many States of the Union, to the West Indies, Mexico, 
Peru, Chili, etc." 

"As Engineering Schools are advertised in many cities, 
villages, etc., where the instruction promised does not agree, 
in scarcely a single item, with what is understood by the 
officers of this Institute to be essential to the Engineer, it 
seems to be a duty to state definitely what qualifications 
are demanded of students, to entitle them to certificates 
in particular departments, and to full degrees in Civil 
Engineering." 

"Practical civil engineering, according to the meaning 
attached to the expressions at this Institute, includes all 
the above qualifications,* at the very least. Students are 
taught all these things and many others, with the appro- 
priate instruments in their hands, accompanied by short 
lectures of their own. And still they find themselves in 
need of years of labor in the field as assistants, before they 
are willing to come forward as chief engineers. How other 
schools manufacture engineers, as set forth in various 
advertisements, is a mystery not yet developed here." 

* The qualifications referred to in the second paragraph, twenty- 
three in number, are given in Appendix I. 



CHAPTER VII 

REORGANIZATION OF THE SCHOOL. THE RENSSE- 
LAER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE 

The fourth act of the Legislature relating to 
the Institute was passed May 8, 1837. It per- 
mitted the Troy Academy to be revived and united 
with the school. The new institution was to be 
named the Rensselaer Institute and was to consist 
of two separate branches, one to be called the 
department of experimental science and the other 
the department of classic literature. No such com- 
bination, hov/ever, resulted. By the same act the 
school was made subject to the visitation of the 
Regents of the University of the State and was 
declared to be entitled to the same privileges, 
government funds and other advantages as the 
academies, colleges and other schools of the higher 
order when it complied with the terms required by 
law and the rules of the Regents. 

At a meeting of the trustees held September 25, 
1 841, the prudential committee was empowered to 
place the institution under the supervision of the 
Regents. Nothing was done in this direction, 
however, and on April 30, 1845, this committee was 
again authorized to consider the question. An 
application dated January 29, 1846, which con- 
tained a complete inventory and valuation of the 

89 



90 HISTORY OF RENSSELAER INSTITUTE 

property, was accordingly presented, and, in con- 
sequence, on the fifth of February of the same year 
the school was made subject to the visitation of 
the Regents, being classed as an academy until 
after its reorganization in 1849-50. Annual reports 
were made for eight years, and during this time it 
received a small amount of money, $744 in all, as 
its share of the literature moneys distributed to the 
academies of the State. In 1854 the authorities 
declined to make further reports, on the ground 
that the school had little in common with the 
academies. They were again made in 1869 and 
1870, the institution being then classed as a sci- 
entific school. Another is found in the Report of 
the Regents for 1880, and since 1882 they have 
been made annually. They are now compulsory. 
Upon the removal of the Institute, in May, 1834, 
from the Old Bank Place to the Van der Heyden 
mansion, a five-years' lease of the latter place was 
made; and in order to provide proper facilities for 
the students, the Patron caused a laboratory and 
study rooms to be built upon its grounds. After 
his death, which occurred January 26, 1839, the 
lease was renewed for two years. During this period 
the school suffered by the mutilation and final 
destruction, under the orders of the road commis- 
sioners of Troy, of the buildings erected by Mr. 
Van Rensselaer, and, as the agent of the property 
refused to restore them, at the expiration of the 
lease on May i, 1841, a return to its. original loca- 
tion was effected. Its second occupation of the 
Old Bank Place was only three years in duration. 



REORGANIZATION OF THE SCHOOL 91 

In 1843 the infant school lot situated on the 
northeast corner of State and Sixth Streets, with a 
frontage of one hundred feet on Sixth Street and of 
ninety-eight feet on State Street, was offered as a 
gift by the city to the trustees, with the condition 
that William P. Van Rensselaer, a son of the 
founder, should give to the institution a sum of 
money equal to the value of the property. There 
was upon the lot a brick building fifty by thirty 
feet in size which was valued at $2,500. The prop- 
erty was appraised at $6,500, and, the condition 
being accepted by Mr. Van Rensselaer, was deeded 
to the trustees June i, 1844. The $6,500 in money 
thus obtained was invested as a permanent fund, 
and at the same time $1 ,260 was raised by subscrip- 
tion for the purpose of building a laboratory. This 
was a one-storied brick building fifty by twenty-six 
feet in size, and was built upon the lot in 1844. It 
cost $1,150. In the same year these two buildings 
were occupied by the school. 

In the complete inventory contained in the ap- 
plication to the Regents made January, 1846, the 
buildings and lot were valued at $7,650; the library 
of three hundred and ninety-six volumes at $973-45, 
and the surveying instruments, apparatus, and spec- 
imens at $537.63. The money in possession of the 
trustees amounted to $6,690, so that the total esti- 
mated value of the property of the Institution was 
$15,851.08. The total debts at the same time 
amounted to $1,050. 

In the catalogue for the thirty-fifth semi-annual 
session, pubHshed in 184 1-2, during the second 



92 HISTORY OF RENSSELAER INSTITUTE 

occupancy of the Old Bank Place, is given a list of 
students for the years 1839, 1840, and 1841, with 
their ages and addresses. During these three years 
there were seventy-seven students, most of whom 
came from the State of New York. Twelve of 
them, however, came from Connecticut, Maryland, 
New Hampshire, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ten- 
nessee, Vermont, and Canada. Their ages varied 
generally between seventeen and twenty-five years, 
the average being twenty years. The list for the 
years 1840, 1841, and 1842, given in the catalogue of 
1842-3, contains the names of seventy-five students 
of whom ten were not residents of the State. One 
of them came from the territory of Wisconsin. 
During the next few years, until the extension of 
the course of study, the number varied between 
thirty-five and sixty-five annually, with an average 
age of about nineteen years. These numbers in- 
clude students, of whom there was always a con- 
siderable number, who took partial courses and 
stayed only part of the year. 

Amos Eaton having died May 6, 1842, George H. 
Cook, of the class of 1839, afterwards widely known 
for his work as State Geologist of New Jersey, was 
appointed Senior Professor and Agent, September 
19, 1842. He had previously been appointed As- 
sistant Professor in March, 1840; Adjunct Profes- 
sor of Civil Engineering in October, 1840, and Pro- 
fessor of Chemistry, Mineralogy, and Zoology in 
September, 1841. His duties as Senior Professor 
included the delivery of courses of lectures on geol- 
ogy, chemistry, and civil engineering. After some- 



REORGANIZATION OF THE SCHOOL 93 

what extending the courses of study he resigned in 
1846. His resignation was accepted by the board 
of trustees, with resolutions of regret, at a meeting 
held November 30, 1846, and on the same date B. 
Franklin Greene, Professor of Mathematics and 
Natural Philosophy in Washington College, Mary- 
land, was appointed Senior Professor. He was 
graduated from the Institute in the class of 1842 
with the degrees of Civil Engineer and Bachelor of 
Natural Science, and had been teaching at Wash- 
ington College since 1843. In assuming the duties 
of Senior Professor he became at the same time 
Professor of Mathematics and Physics. 

In the meanwhile the resignation of Dr. Nott 
had been accepted April 30, 1845, and Rev. Dr. N. 
S. S. Beman, who had been Vice-president since 
1 84 1, was elected President in his place. 

The acceptance of the direction of the Institute 
by B. Franklin Greene marks an epoch in the his- 
tory of the school. With the exceptions of its 
founder and Amos Eaton, it owes more to him than 
to any other person. Up to this date the course 
had been one year in duration, and although this 
length of time spent at the school did not neces- 
sarily insure the acquirement of either of the de- 
grees, which were given only after satisfactory 
examinations had been passed, the average stu- 
dent who came reasonably well prepared could 
complete either of the courses in this period. After 
a careful study of the scientific and technical insti- 
tutions of Europe, Professor Greene thoroughly 
reorganized the curriculum. This reorganization. 



94 HISTORY OF RENSSELAER INSTITUTE 

which included a material enlargement of the 
course of study and the requirement of a more 
rigid standard of scholarship from candidates for 
degrees, took place in the years 1849-50. 

Professor Greene, who in the meanwhile had be- 
come Director of the institution when that office 
was created by act of Legislature in 1850, pub- 
lished in 1856 a pamphlet of eighty-seven pages, 
entitled "The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. 
Its Reorganization in 1849-50; Its Condition at the 
Present Time; Its Plans and Hopes for the Fu- 
ture." This, as its title indicates, was descriptive 
of the reorganization. Quotations from it will 
show more clearly the character of the changes and 
the intentions of the authorities: 

"The managers of the Institute therefore re- 
solved that their field should he narrowed and more 
thoroughly cultivated; that, indeed, their educational 
objects should be restricted to matters immediately 
cognate to Architecture and Engineering; that, 
moreover, for a somewhat irregular and for the 
most part optional course, requiring but a single 
year for its accomplishment, they would substitute 
a carefully considered curriculum which should re- 
quire at the least three full years of systematic and 
thorough training; and that, finally, they would 
demand the application of the strictest examina- 
tion tests to the successive parts of the course pre- 
scribed, not only in respect to the translation of 
students from lower to higher classes, but, espe- 
cially, in all cases of ultimate graduation with pro- 
fessional degrees. It was in accordance with such 



REORGANIZATION OF THE SCHOOL 95 

views as these that, in 1849-50, this institution 
was wholly reorganized upon the basis of a general 
polytechnic institute, when it received the distinc- 
tive addition to its title, under which it has since 
been more or less generally known. Its objects 
were thenceforward declared to be 'The education 
of architects and civil, mining, and topographical 
engineers, upon an enlarged basis and with a liberal 
development of mental and physical culture.'" 

"But it is proper to remark that, with the com- 
prehensive statement and formal announcement 
then made, of what was proposed to be the future 
work of the Institute, there was associated in the 
minds of its managers no immediate expectation of 
realizing more than a very partial development of 
their plans, with the comparatively limited re- 
sources in materiel of every kind at their command. 
Accordingly it was resolved that, of the entire In- 
stitute curriculum, they would at first proceed to 
develop the General Course — the common scien- 
tific basis of the four professional courses — and the 
two specialties of Civil and Topographical Engi- 
neering to as good a degree of excellence as should be 
practicable under the existing circumstances ; while 
they would defer any attempt to effect the more 
complete development of their plans, including the 
important specialties of Architecture and Mining 
Engineering, to a period when they might hope to 
be able to invoke effectively the aid of conditions 
more favorable to realizations so desirable." 

As indicated in these extracts, no attempt was 
made to develop at once all the special technical 



96 HISTORY OF RENSSELAER INSTITUTE 

courses which it was intended to estabHsh even- 
tually. The course in Natural Science was made 
two years in length and that in Civil Engineering 
required three years. The first year was common 
to both. The degree given for the former course 
was Bachelor of Science, B.S., and for the latter 
Civil Engineer, C.E. The highest or senior class 
was called Division A and the others Divisions B 
and C. In 1852 a "preparatory class," in which 
students were fitted to enter Division C, was 
inaugurated. 

An examination of the new curriculum shows the 
effect upon its formation of the study of the French 
scientific schools. Its object was practically that 
of L'Ecole Centrale des Arts et Manufactures, 
which, in a three-years' course, was intended to 
train civil engineers, directors of works, superin- 
tendents of manufactories, professors of applied 
science, etc., and the reorganized course bears con- 
siderable resemblance to that of the same school. 
That part of it which forms the groundwork for the 
higher technical studies also resembles the curricu- 
lum of L'Ecole Polytechnique, which, it will be 
remembered, does not furnish a complete system 
of instruction, but has for its object the preparation 
of students for entrance to certain government 
technical institutions. 

It was the intention to obtain, as far as the 
conditions would admit, the same end here in a 
single school that was obtained in France from 
L'Ecole Polytechnique and the special schools 
combined. As a matter of fact, with the same high 




Pittsburs-h Buildiii!?. 1912- 




'87 Gymnasium, 1913- 




'87 Gymnasium. Swimming Pool 




'87 Gymnasium. Main Floor 



REORGANIZATION OF THE SCHOOL 97 

aim in view, the curriculums of such institutions, 
wherever situated, must necessarily bear a resem- 
blance to each other. In relation to this subject the 
circular of February, 1851, informs us that "In the 
essential features of its design and intentions, the 
Institute may be said to occupy a position between 
L'Ecole Poly technique and L'Ecole Centrale des 
Arts et Manufactures, of Paris. It claims no other 
resemblance to these celebrated and richly endowed 
institutions. To its peculiar mode of study there is . 
no known counterpart.'' 

The mode of study at this time contained the 
essential features of that which characterized the 
beginnings of the school. The students took full 
notes of the lectures delivered by the professors 
and afterwards studied the subjects by the aid of 
their notes, their own practical exercises, and books 
of reference. The next day they were interrogated 
by the instructors and after the interrogation were 
divided into small sections which assembled in 
different rooms. Each student then delivered an 
extemporaneous lecture upon the subject under 
consideration, which was afterwards criticised by 
the other members of his section and by an officer 
styled a "Repeater," who, under the direction of 
the professor at the head of the department, took 
charge of the several sections. 

The Repeaters were generally resident graduates 
or students who were members of the highest class 
in the institution. The term seems to have been 
taken from the name Repetiteur, given in L'Ecole 
Centrale to a class of instructors with similar 



98 HISTORY OF RENSSELAER INSTITUTE 

duties. It was used only a few years and appears 
for the last time in the catalogue of 1859, in which, 
among twelve instructors, there is found only one, 
the Repeater of Mechanics, who was at the same 
time assistant Professor of Mathematics. In that 
of 1855, among eleven instructors there is no 
repeater. The practice of requiring daily lectures 
from each student was gradually dropped with the 
use of this title, and the present method of strict 
interrogations and of blackboard demonstrations 
which partake of the nature of the lectures, was as 
gradually introduced. This change was largely and 
almost necessarily the result of the increased at- 
tendance at the school. 

The "Notices" of 1835 and the examination 
questions of the succeeding year, together with the 
qualifications required of candidates for degrees in 
1838 and 1839, all of which are found in the pre- 
ceding chapter and Appendix L, give a reasonable 
knowledge of the character of the work done at 
that period of the school's history. As it is now 
proposed to set forth the curriculum after the re- 
organization, it will be well to preface it with the 
remark that, although the limited time given to 
the course naturally restricted its value, gradual 
improvements had been made in the intermediate 
years, as required by the advances in natural and 
applied science. In fact, the reorganization itself 
was not immediately completed. Although it may 
be said to have taken place in 1849-50, and the 
courses were extended at this time, a departure, in 
most respects so decided, from its previous methods 



REORGANIZATION OF THE SCHOOL 99 

necessarily could not be immediately accomplished. 
By the year 1854 the courses in Civil Engineering 
and Natural Science had been well developed. 
The curriculums of these courses, taken from the 
Annual Register of that year, give outlines of the 
subjects studied and the order of their distribution. 
They will be found in Appendix II. 

In the curriculums, the use of the term ''The 
Course" after a subject refers to a detailed descrip- 
tion of it in an exhaustive schedule in the Register. 
This gives in minute detail the scope of each sub- 
ject taught and the text-books and works of 
reference used. It covers forty pages, containing 
thirty - one main and two hundred and two 
subdivisions. 

Lectures and text-books were both used in most 
of the courses. Among the text-books may be 
mentioned: Davies' Legendre's Geometry, Da- 
vies' Bourdon's Algebra, Chauvenet's Trigonom- 
etry, Church's Analytical Geometry, Church's 
Calculus, Mahan's Industrial Drawing, Davies' 
Shades, Shadows, and Perspective; Davies' Descrip- 
tive Geometry, Jopling's Isometrical Perspective, 
Davies' Surveying, Simms' Mathematical Instru- 
ments, Gummere's Astronomy, Hitchcock's Geol- 
ogy, Dana's Mineralogy, Gray's Botany, Gregory's 
Elements of Chemistry, Mill's Qualitative Analysis, 
Fresenius' Quantitative Analysis, Morfit's Chemi- 
cal Manipulation, Bird's Natural Philosophy, Bart- 
lett's Acoustics and Optics, Bartlett's Analytical 
Mechanics, Weisbach's Mechanics of Machinery 
and Engineering, Pambour's Theory of the Steam 



100 HISTORY OF RENSSELAER INSTITUTE 

Engine, Moseley's Mechanical Principles of Engi- 
neering and Architecture, Morin's Aide-Memoire de 
Mecanique Pratique, Haupt's Bridge Construction, 
Mahan's Civil Engineering, and D'Aubuisson's 
Traite d'Hydraulique. A list of one hundred and 
twenty-nine works of reference in English, French, 
and German is also given. 

The practical part of the work of the school 
included surveys, chemical and physical laboratory 
work, botanical and geological excursions, visits to 
factories, etc. 

Applicants for admission were required to be at 
least sixteen years old. The majority were over 
eighteen. They were required to be well prepared 
in geography, English composition, arithmetic, in- 
cluding the metric system; plane geometry, and 
algebra to equations of the second degree. 

The first " Register" to appear after the reorgan- 
ization was a pamphlet of sixteen pages dated Au- 
gust 15, 1 85 1. The second, which was published in 
October, 1852, contained after the names of the 
students their grades in the different departments 
and their class standing. After some of them the 
letters "d" and "a," meaning respectively "de- 
ficient" and "not examined," were placed. To 
this there was decided objection on the part of the 
students, who republished this register in December 
of the same year, leaving out the objectionable 
features. The grades were in consequence omitted 
from succeeding registers, though the "order in 
general standing" upon graduation was published 
until 1855, since which year all names of under- 



REORGANIZATION OF THE SCHOOL 101 

graduates have appeared in alphabetical order in 
the different divisions. 

About this time students were advised to wear a 
"uniform dress," and many of them did so. The 
suit, including a cap, was made of dark-green cloth. 
The coat was a single-breasted frock with a black 
velvet collar, and the cap had an ornamental sym- 
bol in gold placed on the band in front. The cus- 
tom did not continue very long, and the uniform 
was officially mentioned for the last time in the 
Register of 1855. 

Shortly after the extension of the course of 
study the name of the school was changed from the 
Rensselaer Institute to the Rensselaer Polytechnic 
Institute. In a "Programme" issued in 1851 it is 
called by its former name, but in the Register pub- 
lished in August of the same year the latter title is 
used. Although henceforth known as the Rensse- 
laer Polytechnic Institute, the change was not rati- 
fied by act of Legislature until April 8, 1861. The 
name "Annual Register" was first given to the 
official catalogue in 1854. 

The improvement of the curriculum was fol- 
lowed by an increase in the number of students and 
instructors. The report to the Regents of the Uni- 
versity of the State, made in 1848, shows that on 
September 29 of that year there were twenty-two 
students, and that during the year ending on that 
date there had been a total attendance of fifty-one. 
The number of instructors was five, including the 
president, who lectured once a week on Mental and 
Moral Philosophy. In 1855 there were one hun- 



102 HISTORY OF RENSSELAER INSTITUTE 

dred and fourteen students, of whom fifty-one were 
from the State of New York, forty-eight from four- 
teen other States, including Maine, Louisiana and 
California, and fifteen from foreign countries. The 
number of instructors had increased to eleven, in- 
cluding Dr. Beman. In consequence of the exten- 
sion of the course no class was graduated in 1852. 

In 1848 the tuition was $20 for each term of five 
months, or $40 a year. Those who worked in the 
chemical laboratory paid $8 a term more. In 1851 
the corresponding fees were $60 a year and $5 a 
term. In 1857 the tuition was $100 a year, with no 
extra charges. This was increased to $150 a year in 
1864 and again in 1866 to $200, at which price it 
remained until 1912, when, after the erection of the 
'87 gymnasium, it was increased to $205 a 
year. 

The fifth act, relating to the institution, passed 
by the Legislature of the State was dated March 8, 
1850. Besides creating the office of Director this 
law reorganized the board of trustees. It was en- 
larged to nineteen members, and the only ex-officio 
member left in it was the Mayor of Troy. All 
restrictions as to place of residence of members were 
abolished. The act of April 8, 1 861 , which legalized 
the change of name of the Institute made ten years 
before and consolidated the several previous laws 
relating to it, also gave the board power to increase 
its number to twenty-five members, including the 
Mayor of Troy. No further change has since been 
made in this number. By the same law the Trus- 
tees were given the power to confer the degree of 



REORGANIZATION OF THE SCHOOL 103 

Civil Engineer, Topographical Engineer, Bachelor 
of Science, and such other academic honors as they 
might see fit. This was merely a more explicit 
definition of their power to grant certificates than 
was given by the act of 1835, under which they had 
been annually conferring degrees. The act of 1861 
was amended by a law passed March 26, 1866. 
Only two sections were amended, one by leaving 
out a clause that three days' notice of a Trustee 
meeting must be given and the other by adding a 
clause to the effect that any member of the Board 
of Trustees failing to attend meetings for a year 
could be dropped by the Board. Two other sec- 
tions relating to the appointment and removal of 
instructors and the duties of the Director were 
changed by an act dated May 4, 1887. The next 
act passed was dated April 22, 1898. It relates to 
the admission of students and the conferring of 
degrees, and reads as follows: "The Rensselaer 
Polytechnic Institute shall have exclusive power 
to regulate and prescribe the terms of admission of 
students to the courses of instruction prescribed 
from time to time to candidates for its degrees, 
and on the satisfactory completion of such courses 
of study to confer degrees as authorized by Chapter 
one hundred and fifty-one of the laws of eighteen 
hundred and sixty-one and the several laws amend- 
atory thereof and to award suitable diplomas or 
certificates thereof." 

In pursuance of the plan outlined at the time of 
the reorganization a course in Topographical En- 
gineering was, in 1857, added to those already 



104 



HISTORY OF RENSSELAER INSTITUTE 



existing. Upon its satisfactory completion the can- 
didate received the degree of Topographical Engi- 
neer, T.E. Like the course in Natural, or, as it was 
then called, General Science, it was two years in 
length, while that in Civil Engineering required 
three years. A special course in Land Surveying, 
only one year in duration, was also inaugurated. 
The first year of the Topographical curriculum was 
identical with that in Civil Engineering. In the 
second year pure mathematics, graphics, physics, 
chemistry, and geology were taught, and especial 
attention was given to general surveying, practical 
astronomy and topographical drawing. 

It will be remembered, in considering the time 
given to the three principal courses, that the pre- 
paratory class increased their length for some of the 
students by a period of one year. Since the first 
year of its establishment its members had varied in 
number from twenty- two to thirty- two. They were 
treated as members of the Institute, and their 
names were printed in the Register, after Division 
C, under the heading "Preparatory Class." In 
1858 "Division D" was prefixed to this title, and 
after 1862 it was no longer called the preparatory 
class but simply "Division D." 

In i860 the special course in Land Surveying 
was abolished and the courses in General Science 
and Topographical Engineering were made three 
years in length, the same as that in Civil Engineer- 
ing. In 1862, when the preparatory class became 
Division D, the latter course was made four years 
in length and the two former each three years. 



REORGANIZATION OF THE SCHOOL 105 

These two, however, began with Division C, the 
course in Topographical Engineering being identi- 
cal with that in Civil Engineering, throughout the 
work of divisions C and B, and the course in Gen- 
eral Science coinciding with both of the engineering 
courses in Division C. 

At this time candidates for admission to Division 
D were required to be not less than fifteen years 
old, and they were examined in geography, English 
grammar, arithmetic, and algebra (through equa- 
tions of the first degree). 

During the scholastic year 1862-3 still other 
changes were made, a course in Mechanical En- 
gineering was added, and each of the four courses 
was made four years in length, the first two years 
being identical in all. The last two years in Me- 
chanical Engineering contained, of course, more of 
the theory and practice of machine construction 
than those leading to the other two professional 
degrees. This course seems to have been one on 
paper only and there is no evidence that any stu- 
dent ever took it. Certainly no one was graduated 
with this degree at that time. For this reason the 
curriculum is not published in the Appendix with 
the others. It was last printed in the catalogue of 
July, 1870. During these eight years there were 
no professor of Mechanical Engineering and no 
assistant. Courses in Structures and Hydraulics 
were more largely developed in the Civil Engineer- 
ing curriculum and Geodesy and General Survey- 
ing in that of Topographical Engineering. The 
improvements in these various courses, made an- 



106 HISTORY OF RENSSELAER INSTITUTE 

nually during the preceding years, are given in 
detail in the Annual Registers. 

In 1866 the course in Topographical Engineering 
was replaced by one in Mining Engineering. The 
number of students in the former had never been 
great, and of these only five had been graduated, 
all in the class of i860. The first two years in 
Mining Engineering were identical with those of 
the other courses. The distribution of the subjects 
in the last two years is given in Appendix II. 

In July, 1859, B. Franklin Greene severed his 
connection with the Institute, after a service of 
more than twelve years. At first Senior Professor 
with the chair of Mathematics and Physics, his 
title was changed in 1850 to Director and Professor 
of Physics, Chemistry and Geology. In 1852 he 
became Professor of Physics, Mechanics and Con- 
structive Engineering, and in 1855 Professor of 
Mechanics, Machines and Constructions. The 
change in the character of the course while he was 
at the head of the faculty gives evidence of his 
efficiency and great ability. 

Ever since he had been elected Vice-president in 
1 841, Rev. Dr. Beman had delivered lectures on 
Mental and Moral Philosophy at the Institute, 
and since 1854 he had been Professor of Mental 
Philosophy as well as President of the Board of 
Trustees. Upon the resignation of B. Franklin 
Greene he was made Director as well, and the title 
of Senior Professor was revived and 'conferred upon 
Charles Drowne, who became at the same time 
Professor of Civil Engineering. Professor Drowne 



REORGANIZATION OF THE SCHOOL 107 

was graduated in the class of 1847 with the degree 
of Civil Engineer, and in the same year became 
Assistant in Mathematics and Physics. In 1850 
he was Adjunct Professor of Theoretical and Prac- 
tical Mechanics, and from 1851 to 1855 Professor of 
Mathematics, Astronomy and Geodesy. Dr. Beman 
remained Director only one year, and in i860 Charles 
Drowne became Director and Professor of Theoreti- 
cal and Practical Mechanics. The term Senior Pro- 
fessor was then dropped and has not since been used. 
Although resigning as Director, Dr. Beman con- 
tinued President of the Board of Trustees until ad- 
vancing years compelled him to terminate, in 1865, 
his long and useful connection with it. He was 
succeeded, March 20, 1865, by John F. Winslow, 
one of the proprietors of the Rensselaer Iron Works 
of Troy. He had been a trustee since i860. Mr. 
Winslow retained his position only three years ; his 
removal to Poughkeepsie causing him to resign 
April 9, 1868. On May 7 of the same year the 
sixth President, Dr. Thomas C. Brinsmade, was 
elected. He was a physician of Troy who had been 
a trustee for twenty-four years, having been elected 
March 4, 1844, during the second occupation of the 
Old Bank Place. His term of ofifice was short. 
Whilst reading a paper on the condition of the 
Institute at a public meeting, held in the evening 
of June 22, 1868, for the purpose of raising funds 
for the school, he died suddenly of heart disease. 
James Forsyth, a lawyer of Troy, was made Presi- 
dent December 15, 1868. He had not previously 
been connected with the institution. 



CHAPTER VIII 

DESTRUCTION BY FIRES. MORE LAND AND NEW 
BUILDINGS. ATHLETICS 

A GREAT fire which swept over many blocks and 
destroyed property valued at nearly three millions 
of dollars occurred in the city on May lo, 1862. It 
burned the buildings of the Institute, which, besides 
the two already described, included one adjacent 
to them, obtained shortly before the fire for a min- 
eralogical and geological museum. The furniture, 
geological specimens and a part of the chemical 
apparatus were also destroyed, though a portion of 
the apparatus and the library were saved. 

Temporary quarters were immediately obtained 
in the University Building on the hill, now called 
the Provincial Seminary, and the course was re- 
sumed on the following Wednesday. Accommo- 
dations for the next year were secured in the Vail 
Building, on the northeast corner of Congress and 
River streets; and the school remained there until 
the completion, in May, 1864, of the structure on 
Eighth Street, at the head of Broadway, which, 
under the name of the Main Building, was used for 
purposes of instruction until it in turn was de- 
stroyed by fire, June 9, 1904. It was .built of brick, 
and was one hundred and fifteen feet long by fifty 
feet wide, with a central portion five stories in 

108 



MORE LAND AND NEW BUILDINGS 109 

height and two wings, each of four stories. The 
land upon which it was situated, as well as that 
occupied by the Winslow Laboratory, now called 
the Shop, was given by Joseph M. Warren, who 
had been a trustee of the school since 1849. The 
building was situated on the site of the existing 
granite approach between Eighth Street and the 
alley west of it. 

The construction of a chemical laboratory was 
begun in 1865 on that part of the grounds north of 
the Main Building. It was named the Winslow 
Laboratory, in honor of President John F. Winslow. 
He had always been deeply interested in the pros- 
perity of the school, and had contributed largely 
toward the construction of the Main Building. The 
laboratory, which was completed during the sum- 
mer of 1866, was built of brick and was sixty feet 
long by forty feet wide and three stories in height. 
This building was three times partially destroyed 
by fire. Once, on August 2'j, 1884, when the upper 
story was burned together with much apparatus 
and a library of a thousand volumes; again on 
October 29, 1902, when the loss was about $6,000; 
and once more on May 5, 1964, at which time the 
loss was about the same. After the first fire the 
building was improved and enlarged, and after the 
fire of 1902 a south wing was added, the repairs and 
additions costing $10,500. The structure was thus 
made ninety feet in length. It was continued in 
use as a chemical laboratory until 1907, when it was 
converted into a shop for the instruction of students 
in the Mechanical and Electrical Engineering 



110 HISTORY OF RENSSELAER INSTITUTE 

courses. The forge shop and foundry are in the 
basement. The machine shop is on the first floor, 
and the pattern shop on the third floor. The esti- 
mated cost of the building is $37,000 and the 
value of the machinery contained in it about 
$20,000. 

In 1 87 1 it was determined to improve the course 
in Civil Engineering and concentrate the efforts of 
the school upon it. The three courses in Natural 
Science, Mechanical Engineering and Mining Engi- 
neering were, therefore, abolished. The number of 
students taking the first two had been small, and, 
although more had taken the last, between the 
years 1868 and 1871 only twenty-three had been 
graduated with the degree of Mining Engineer. 
No one was graduated with the degree of Mechani- 
cal Engineer. Metallurgy and free-hand drawing 
were added to the civil engineering curriculum, 
and the courses in chemistry, physics and geology 
as well as those in a number of the practical en- 
gineering subjects, were extended and improved. 
In the course as developed a wide significance was 
given to the term civil engineering, as is shown 
by the inclusion in the courses of such sub- 
jects as metallurgy, thermodynamics, the theory 
and construction of engines and other machines, 
etc. 

There was at this time, as there always has been, 
a considerable number of students who took special 
courses and were not candidates for a degree. Af- 
ter a lapse of fourteen years the course in Natural 
Science was re-established at a meeting of the 



MOKE LAND AND NEW BUILDINGS 111 

trustees held September 23, 1885, and still con- 
tinues a department of instruction at the Institute 
though its name was changed to the course in Gen- 
eral Science in 1909. 

The semi-centennial celebration of the founda- 
tion of the school was held at Troy, June 14 to 18, 
1874. Besides the usual commencement exercises 
there was a largely attended alumni meeting, three 
days in duration, at which historical and other 
addresses pertinent to the occasion were made by 
the President, graduates, professors, and others. 
A monument to Amos Eaton, which had recently 
been placed in Oakwood Cemetery, was dedicated, 
and sketches were given of the lives of five gradu- 
ates and students who had served in the civil war 
and for whom memorial windows had recently been 
placed in the Main Building. These were Major 
James Cromwell, C.E., Colonel Charles Osborn 
Gray, Major Otis Fisher, Lieutenant Henry W. 
Merian, C.E., and Major Albert Metcalf Harper, 
C.E. Shortly after the meeting a sixth window, to 
the memory of Captain James R. Percy, C.E., was 
added. These six memorials, however, did not rep- 
resent all of the graduates and students who had 
been in the war. More than seventy-five had 
served in the army and navy of the United States, 
in various capacities, during that period. 

In 1874 memorial windows to Amos Eaton and 
to Professors John Wright and William Elderhorst 
were also placed in the assembly hall of the Main 
Building. Professor Wright had held the chair of 
Botany and Zoology from 1838 to 1845, and Wil- 



112 HISTORY OF RENSSELAER INSTITUTE 

Ham Elderhorst had been Professor of Chemistry 
from 1855 to 1 86 1. 

A leave of absence was granted Professor 
Drowne, in November, 1875, on account of ill 
health. He did not recover sufficiently to enable 
him to return, but resigned December 9, 1876, on 
which date William L. Adams was appointed Direc- 
tor. President Forsyth had been acting in this 
capacity from December 11, 1875, until the ap- 
pointment of Professor Adams who was a graduate 
of the class of 1862. After some experience in the 
field he became Acting Professor of Geodesy, Road 
Engineering and Topographical Drawing from 
September, 1864, to February, 1865, when he 
resumed the active practice of his profession. In 
September, 1872, he returned to the Institute to 
take charge of the department in which he had 
previously been Acting Professor. He again left, 
in 1878, to return to the profession of railroad en- 
gineering, and on September 10 of the same year 
David M. Greene, of the class of 1851, was elected 
Director. Professor Greene had been for a short 
time after his graduation Assistant in Mechanics 
and Physics at the Institute, and had occupied the 
chair of Geodesy and Topographical Drawing from 
1855 to 1861. 

The third building to be erected for purposes of 
instruction was an astronomical observatory which 
was finished in 1878 at a cost of $15,000. It was 
presented by Mr. and Mrs. Ebenezer Proudfit of 
Troy as a memorial to their son, Williams Proudfit, 
a bright and promising student of the class of 1877, 




View South of Walker Laboratory 



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View Southeast of Pittsburgh Building 



MORE LAND AND NEW BUILDINGS 113 

who was, in 1875, fatally injured by being thrown 
from his carriage. The trustees received a letter 
from the donors November 6, 1875, in which they 
signified their intention to erect the observatory. 
In consequence, a suitable site was found in the 
Ranken property, situated on the east side of 
Eighth Street, nearly opposite to the Winslow 
laboratory. This was bought by the Board Janu- 
ary 25, 1877. It had a frontage of one hundred and 
fifty feet on Eighth Street and extended eastward 
about five hundred feet to the brow of a hill which 
has an elevation of about two hundred feet above 
the Hudson River. It is now merged into the 
larger plot, south of it, since bought by the school. 
The property included a dwelling-house and stable, 
both built of brick. The house, known as the 
Ranken House, forty feet square and two stories 
in height, was used for a long time for recitation 
rooms for the department of Mechanics, and con- 
tained the first machine for testing materials of 
engineering owned by the Institute. It was an 
Olsen machine, and had a capacity of 50,000 
pounds. There was also a Fairbanks cement- 
testing machine. The house and barn were both 
removed in 19 10 when the Pittsburgh Building was 
erected. The site of the latter building partly 
covers that of the Ranken House. 

The Williams Proudfit Observatory was built of 
brick with stone trimmings on the brow of the hill. 
It consists of a central part thirty feet square, 
with three wings, the total length being seventy- 
six feet and breadth sixty feet. The main part 



114 HISTORY OF RENSSELAER INSTITUTE 

was two stories high, with a dome twenty-nine 
feet in diameter, under which was the main pier 
intended for an equatorial telescope. The wings 
were each one story in height, that to the east 
containing the transit instrument and other appa- 
ratus used for astronomical purposes. 

No large telescope was placed under the dome 
and the observatory was never of great benefit to 
the Institute, so that when, at the meeting of the 
Alumni Association held in Troy, in June, 1899, a 
fund was begun for the erection of an electrical and 
testing laboratory, Mrs. Proudfit gave $6,500 to 
change the observatory into a building suitable for 
such a purpose. Accordingly, in 1900, the three 
wings were each made two stories in height, the 
dome was replaced by an ordinary roof, and a 
two-story building resulted. The Westinghouse 
Electric and Manufacturing Company and the 
General Electric Company, together, gave about 
six thousand dollars' worth of electrical machinery, 
and J. J. Albright, of the class of '68, gave $2,500 
and also $1,500 a year for five years to help main- 
tain the laboratory. The Alumni also raised 
$36,000 as an endowment fund. The building 
was partially destroyed by fire December 17, 1902. 
The insurance obtained on building and apparatus 
amounted to $13,300. Advantage was taken of 
this fire to put, in 1903, a third story on the struc- 
ture and deepen the basement, so that it now has 
four useful stories. At the same time a boiler- 
house, containing two seventy-five horse-power 
boilers and a steam turbine for experimental pur- 



MORE LAND AND NEW BUILDINGS 115 

poses, was added at the north end. Its roof was 
on the level of the second story of the building. 
The improvements cost about $20,000. 

By 1904 the number of students had become so 
large that it was decided to enlarge the laboratory 
by the addition of two stories to the boiler-house, 
thus making it of the same height as the other 
parts of the building. This improvement was 
completed early in 1905 at a cost of about $4,000. 
After the change in 1900 all the building, except 
two rooms, was devoted to electrical work. The 
electrical laboratories contained direct and alter- 
nating current motors and generators, rotary con- 
verters and transformers altogether numbering 
fifteen, as well as other instruments and apparatus 
necessary for well-equipped laboratories. The re- 
maining two rooms were used for laboratories for 
the tests of materials of engineering. The first 
floor of the east wing contained a testing machine 
of 300,000 pounds capacity, one of 100,000 pounds, 
one of 50,000 pounds, and one of 10,000 pounds for 
testing wire. The second floor of the north wing 
was equipped as a cement-testing laboratory. 

When the boiler-house, described hereafter, was 
finished in 1908, the boilers were taken from the 
Proudfit Laboratory and the space formerly oc- 
cupied by them was converted into janitors' quar- 
ters. The electrical laboratories were also removed 
to the Russell Sage Laboratory in 1909 and the 
entire building was then given over to the Depart- 
ment of Rational and Technical Mechanics. The 
equipment of this department was then materially 



116 HISTORY OF RENSSELAER INSTITUTE 

increased by the addition of a 1,200,000-pound 
machine for compressive tests, an automatic and 
autographic machine of 150,000 pounds capacity, 
a torsional machine of 125,000 inch-pounds, and 
machines for testing paving brick, road metal, ce- 
ment, and other materials. A very completely 
equipped cement-testing laboratory was also in- 
stalled. The building now contains eighteen rooms 
used for laboratories, lecture and recitation rooms 
and offices. The 600,000-pound testing-machine 
in the Russell Sage Laboratory also forms a part 
of the equipment of the same department. 

During the Alumni meeting held at Troy in 
June, 1 88 1, a committee of graduates was ap- 
pointed to solicit funds for the endowment of the 
institution. Francis Collingwood, '55, was made 
chairman. This action was approved at the meet- 
ing held in New York City in January, 1882, and 
was officially sanctioned by the board of trustees, 
February 24, 1882. On this date the board ap- 
pointed James P. Wallace, '37; E. Thompson Gale, 
'37, and Charles Macdonald, '57, as a committee to 
receive and manage the funds. About $22,000 
was raised, after which the work was interfered with 
by solicitations for subscriptions for the gymna- 
sium. The amount collected was due largely to the 
efforts of Mr. Collingwood. 

The year 1883 is made memorable by the endow- 
ment of the chair of Rational and Technical Mech- 
anics; the first to be endowed. Sixty thousand dol- 
lars was given for this purpose by Mrs. Mary 
Elizabeth Hart, as a memorial to her husband, 



MORE LAND AND NEW BUILDINGS 117 

with the condition that the chair should be desig- 
nated the WilHam Howard Hart Professorship of 
Rational and Technical Mechanics. The commu- 
nication to the board of trustees offering the endow- 
ment was dated June ii, 1883. Mr. Hart was the 
son of Richard P. Hart, who had been a trustee of 
the school in its earlier days (1825-43). He had 
always been interested in the school, and in her 
letter Mrs. Hart informed the board that the en- 
dowment was "in furtherance of his views and as 
a fitting memorial of his interest in the prosperity 
and success of the Institute." 

It has been seen that the geological and miner- 
alogical specimens belonging to the school were 
destroyed by the fire of 1862. Another collection 
was immediately begun by H. B. Nason, at that 
time Professor of Natural History. A thousand 
dollars was given for this purpose, and by the fall 
of 1862 more than a thousand specimens of min- 
erals, rocks and fossils had been obtained. 

From the time of completion of the Main Build- 
ing, and for nearly thirty years thereafter, this col- 
lection, to which additions were constantly being 
made, together with the cabinets of natural history, 
was kept in a large hall on the top floor and the 
library was in a room on the second floor. The 
erection of a fire-proof building in which both 
could be safely kept was urged by Professor Nason 
at the Alumni meeting in Troy, June 13, 1888. 
The State Geologist of New York, Professor James 
Hall, of the class of 1832, had promised to give a 
valuable collection of fossils if such a building were 



118 HISTORY OF RENSSELAER INSTITUTE 

provided. Part of the amount required for its con- 
struction was raised by subscription from gradu- 
ates at the meeting, and at the Pittsburgh meeting 
of the association of graduates held January 31, 

1889, enough was pledged to insure its erection. A 
lot on the east side of Second Street, between State 
Street and Broadway, immediately north of the 
Savings Bank Building, was purchased June 2, 

1890, with a fund raised by subscription among the 
trustees, and the building was completed in 1893. 
The lot cost $10,000 and the building $35,000. 
Wilson Brothers & Co., of Philadelphia, provided ^ 
the plans, the three brothers from whom the firm 

took its name being graduates of the Institute. The * 

structure is fireproof, fifty feet square and three 
stories in height. The lower portion is faced with 
brown stone and the upper with yellow brick and 
terra-cotta. The library, a room for the trustees 
and the olhce of the Director were on the first floor, 
and the other two contained the geological and 
mineralogical collections which at that time num- 
bered about ten thousand specimens. There was 
also a lecture room for the department of Geology 
on the second floor. This building was used until 
the completion of the Pittsburgh Building in Feb- 
ruary, 191 2, at which time everything was removed 
from it. It is now vacant and is no longer used for 
Institute purposes. 

In May, 1883, a petition was received by the 
trustees from the students, who asked that steps 
be taken by the board to provide a suitable gym- 
nasium for their use. The subject was again agi- 



4 



MORE LAND AND NEW BUILDINGS 119 

tated later in the year, and in 1884 a lot on the 
south side of Broadway, at the foot of the property 
containing the Main Building, was purchased by the 
trustees. Upon this site a gymnasium of brick, 
trimmed with stone and terra-cotta, eighty feet 
long by forty-four feet wide and two stories in 
height, was erected. It was opened March 11, 
1887. The building cost $20,000. About half of 
this amount was contributed by alumni, trustees, 
students, and residents of Troy, and the remainder 
was appropriated from the funds of the institu- 
tion. The first story contains a reception-room, 
a dressing-room, shower baths, and bowling alleys, 
and the second, the main hall, which is about thirty 
feet high and is fitted with gymnastic apparatus. 
There is a running track around this hall and at one 
end a gallery for spectators. This building was 
used as a gymnasium until the completion of the 
'87 gymnasium in November, 1912. It is now 
rented to the Troy Academy. 

President Forsyth, who, besides his official duties 
as President of the Board of Trustees, had lectured 
on the Law of Contracts since 1873, died August 10, 
1886. Upon his death, William Gurley, of the class 
of 1839, the Vice-president of the board, became 
Acting President and remained so until his death, 
January 11, 1887. On June i of the same year 
Albert E. Powers, a banker and manufacturer of 
Lansingburg, who had been a trustee since 1861, 
was elected Vice-president and acted as President 
until May 2, 1888, when John H. Peck, a promi- 
nent lawyer of Troy, was elected to that office. 



120 HISTORY OF RENSSELAER INSTITUTE 

Mr. Peck had been a member of the board of 
trustees since June I, 1887. He resigned from 
the Presidency and from the board of trustees, 
January 16, 1901. 

After a service of thirteen years David M. Greene 
resigned September 15, 1891, and Professor Dascom 
Greene, at the head of the department of Mathe- 
matics and Astronomy, was appointed temporary 
Director. He held this position until the election, 
January 15, 1892, of Palmer C.Ricketts, of the class 
of 1875, who had been Assistant in Mathematics and 
Astronomy from that year until 1882 and Assistant 
Professor in the same department from 1882 until 
1885, when he became William Howard Hart Profes- 
sor of Rational and Technical Mechanics. He is 
still Director and has been also President of the 
Board of Trustees since February 13, 1901 . The du- 
ties incident to these positions compelled him to re- 
linquish most of his work as teacher, and Professor 
Thomas R. Lawson became Associate Professor and 
the head of the Department of Mechanics in 1906. 

Reference has already been made to the fires 
which occurred in the Main Building and Chemical 
Laboratory in 1904. The former was almost 
completely destroyed and the latter was badly 
damaged. In consequence of the destruction of 
the Main Building recitations were held in the 
Ranken House and in the State Bank Building 
on the southwest corner of River and Fulton 
streets, a floor of which was rented for this purpose. 
This was continued until the Carnegie Building 
was ready for occupancy in September, 1906. 



MORE LAND AND NEW BUILDINGS 121 

At a meeting of the board of trustees held 
December 7, 1904, a committee was appointed to 
consider the site and kind of building to replace 
the Main Building. Architects were employed and 
at a meeting held January 4, 1905, it was resolved 
to replace it by a new building on or near the old 
site, and to build a new chemical laboratory 
on the Ranken property. These plans were 
changed, however, when the suggestion was made 
by J. J. Albright, of '68, that the property of 
Walter P. Warren, adjacent to and south of the 
Ranken plot, be bought. He offered to give 
$50,000 toward the erection of a new chemical 
laboratory if this property were bought. It was 
finally acquired June i, 1905, upon the payment 
of $125,000. It had a frontage of 315 feet on 
Eighth Street, extending easterly for a distance of 
1,300 feet and containing ten and a half acres of 
land. There were a dwelling house and stable on 
it, the dwelling being valued at $40,000. During 
the next two years more land was bought. When 
the new boiler-house was projected in 1907 the site 
determined upon for it rendered advisable the 
purchase of a small piece of land from the Troy 
Hospital, and in 1907 about 0.81 acre was bought. 
In the same year 1.41 acres were bought in two 
parcels from the Warren and Tibbits estates. 
These two parcels bordered on Fifteenth Street. 
They were separated from the main plot by land 
belonging to St. Joseph's Seminary, and 10.6 
acres were bought from the Seminary in 1907. 
The Ranken House property contained 1.7 acres; 



122 



HISTORY OF RENSSELAER INSTITUTE 



SO that the total acreage in the plot was 25 and 
the total cost was $164,620. This included two 
houses and two stables on the Ranken and Warren 
properties. A ravine ran east and west through 
the land, which was very irregular in surface. 
There were a stream and a pond of considerable 
size upon it. A fill, of fifteen feet in places, was 
necessary to make the athletic field. The pond, 
which was north of the present driveway, was 
filled by cutting the top off a hill east of the site 
of the carpenter shop and by removing clay to a 
depth of ten feet from the rocks about two hundred 
feet westerly. In 1908 a street, called Avenue B, 
was cut through the ravine from Ninth to Fifteenth 
streets. This took 1.37 acres from the plot, 
leaving 23.67 acres divided into two parts. The 
main plot, upon which most of the buildings are 
now situated, has a frontage of 472 feet on Eighth 
Street, one of 444 feet on Fifteenth Street, and a 
length of 1,765 feet between the two streets. It 
contains 19.5 acres. The plot north of Avenue B 
contains about 4 acres. 

Before the purchase of the Warren property 
was consummated it was known that Mr. Andrew 
Carnegie was to give us $125,000 for the erection 
of a building to take the place of the Main Build- 
ing. This gift was due to the efforts of Captain 
Robert W. Hunt, who had known Mr. Carnegie 
for a long time and who had been a trustee of the 
Institute since 1886. The site chosen for the 
structure was on the winding road which extends 
from Eighth Street to the main plateau of the 



MORE LAND AND NEW BUILDINGS 123 

property. Its center is on the center line of Broad- 
way produced, the front face is about two hundred 
feet east of the street, and the second story is about 
on the level of the main campus. The building was 
finished in September, 1906, at a cost, including 
grading and sidewalks, of $133,000. It is 60 by 100 
feet in plan, with four stories and a basement, and 
is built of Harvard brick trimmed with Indiana 
limestone, with concrete and steel floors and par- 
titions. There are fifteen recitation rooms, two 
drawing-rooms, one of them 60 by 100 feet in 
size, two lobbies, two study rooms, and quarters 
for a janitor. The halls have terrazzo floors with 
walls tiled in white to a distance of seven feet 
above the floor. The style adopted for this build- 
ing has, with the exception of the club-house, 
been continued for all others since constructed. 
All are constructed of the same kind of brick and 
stone, though their architectural features vary 
sufficiently to prevent monotony. The halls in 
all of them used for purposes of instruction have 
terrazzo floors tiled, for cleanliness and light, to a 
distance of seven feet above the floor. They all 
have floors of concrete or tile and partitions of 
brick. The lighting is done throughout by elec- 
tricity and all are heated by steam from a central 
station. This central station or boiler-house was 
finished in 1908. It is situated on a low spot in 
the grounds east of the Proudfit Laboratory and 
north of the Russell Sage Laboratory, with which 
it is connected by an underground passageway. 
The chimney forms a part of the latter laboratory, 



124 HISTORY OF RENSSELAER INSTITUTE 

the gases from the boilers passing through a hori- 
zontal tunnel, between the two buildings, to reach 
the chimney. There is room for boilers of 800 
horse-power, though the capacity at present is 
only 650. The structure cost $37,000 and the 
contents are valued at about $9,000. All the 
buildings on the grounds are heated from this 
house. 

On account of the increase in the number of 
students, the old chemical laboratory became too 
small, and in 1905 it was determined to build a 
larger one. After the purchase of the Warren 
property it was decided to place it on this prop- 
erty at- the same level as the Proudfit Laboratory 
and between it and the Carnegie Building which 
was about to be erected. 

The new chemical laboratory was built at the 
same time as the Carnegie Building, and was fin- 
ished towards the end of 1906 at a cost of $1 10,000. 
Of this amount, J. J. Albright, according to his 
promise, gave $50,000. The architects were 
Messrs. Lawlor and Haase. Mr. Lawlor was grad- 
uated from the Institute in the class of '88. They 
were also the architects for the Sage Building, the 
Club-House and the '87 Gymnasium. The labora- 
tory is built of the same materials as the Carnegie 
Building, though it is somewhat more ornate. It 
contains a large lecture room, a special chemical 
Hbrary, a qualitative laboratory, 50 by 80 feet 
in size, capable of holding one hundred and thirty 
students, four other large laboratories for work in 
various branches of chemistry, and fifteen other 



MORE LAND AND NEW BUILDINGS 125 

rooms for private laboratories, offices, recitation 
rooms and store rooms. As originally built, a large 
part of the basement was used as an assay room 
and the lecture room extended from the second 
floor to the roof. In 1913 much more room for 
special laboratories was obtained by placing the 
lecture room on the third floor, and thus gaining 
one more large room for water analysis, and by 
dividing up the assay room. These and other 
improvements cost about $20,000. Shortly after 
the structure was erected it was decided to name 
it the William Weightman Walker Laboratory, in 
memory of Dr. William Weightman Walker, of the 
class of '86, and in gratitude to the mother of Dr. 
Walker, who had been a great benefactress to the 
school. 

After the Warren property had been purchased 
and the determination made to place the Carnegie 
Building and new chemical laboratory upon it, 
the question of the disposition of the wreck of the 
Main Building arose. One suggestion was that it 
be made into a dormitory. During this period the 
citizens of Troy had been appealed to for aid to 
the institution and the Chamber of Commerce had 
begun to raise* money for this purpose. During 
one of the meetings of the Chamber, Edward F. 
Murray, of Troy, strongly advocated the appro- 
priation by the City of Troy of a sufficient amount, 
which he estimated at $50,000, to extend Broad- 
way over the site of the old building to Eighth 
Street, and to build a series of granite steps on this 
site, thus forming a handsome approach to the 



126 HISTORY OF RENSSELAER INSTITUTE 

new buildings of the school from the center of the 
city. This suggestion was carried out by the mu- 
nicipality and a simple, very handsome granite 
approach was completed in 1907, at a cost of 
$40,000. The Institute donated the land for the 
width of Broadway, and, in order to protect the 
approach, in 1910 it donated to the city all the 
land it owned between the alley and Eighth Street 
south of the approach and for a distance of fifteen 
feet north of it. 

A winding road, about 2,100 feet in length, leads 
up the hill through the Institute property from 
Eighth Street to a point in Avenue B about 300 
feet west of Fifteenth Street. Altogether there are 
about 2,900 feet of roadway on the grounds and 
about 3,600 feet of sidewalks paved with flagstones. 
The surface of the main campus is about one hun- 
dred feet above the sidewalk at Eighth Street at 
the head of Broadway. Successive flights of granite 
steps with bronze railings lead from this street to 
the campus. There are two hundred and thirty- 
seven such steps on the grounds. The road winds 
up the hill in front of the Pittsburgh Building, 
around the Carnegie Building, and in front suc- 
cessively of the Walker Laboratory, Sage Building 
and the '87 Gymnasium. The Sage Building is on 
the level of the main campus, and the '87Gymna- 
sium is situated on the level of the athletic field near 
the point where the road meets Avenue B. At this 
end of the road there is a handsome gateway with 
columns and walls of Harvard brick with limestone 
trimmings and gates of ornamental iron. It was 



MORE LAND AND NEW BUILDINGS 127 

presented by Mrs. C. W. Tillinghast and erected 
in 1914 at a cost of $4,300. 

The dwelling house on the Warren property was 
of brick and very large. The number of rooms 
was increased by partitions, and in 1907 it was 
converted into a dormitory holding about thirty 
students. The rooms are rented from the Institute 
by the year. A caterer supplies board and is paid 
for it directly by the students. The building was 
never intended for a dormitory for students, and is 
not satisfactory for this purpose. It is, however, 
the only dormitory possessed by the school at the 
present time. 

A Young Men's Christian Association was estab- 
lished at the Institute in 1883. This was the third 
students' Y. M. C. A. to be established in the 
State. It never was very successful, and each year 
only a comparatively small number of students 
were interested in its work. In 1906 a committee 
of graduates in New York City, composed of 
Messrs. N. P. Lewis, '79; Henry W. Hodge, '85; 
M. E. Evans, '95; G. A. Soper, '95; and F. de P. 
Hone, '97, organized the Rensselaer Students' 
Association. It was intended to form a well- 
organized club as a central meeting-place for all 
students and where all would be welcome. The 
object was to form a closer bond of union between 
the students as a whole, without regard to frater- 
nity or other afhliations, than had existed up to 
that time. It was not intended to make it a 
Christian Association, though it was intended to 
have a religious committee among other committees 



128 HISTORY OF RENSSELAER INSTITUTE 

in charge of matters of interest to students. The 
Graduate Committee began by raising money to 
pay the salary of a Secretary of the Association 
for three years, beginning in 1906. They, at the 
same time, attempted to collect funds for a club- 
house, but only succeeded in raising $3,600 for this 
purpose. In the meantime the trustees had 
authorized the expenditure of an amount not to 
exceed $10,000 for the purpose of remodeling the 
Warren barn or helping to build a new club-house. 
Plans were at first drawn for remodeling the barn, 
but it was finally concluded to build a new house. 
This was completed in the early part of 1908 at a 
cost, furnished, of about $19,000, of which the 
Board of Trustees had to pay $15,500. The Club 
House, situated adjacent to and west of the '86 
Athletic Field, is a handsome colonial building of 
wood with shingled sides and roof. It is 70 feet 
long, 35 feet wide and three stories in height. 
The first story contains a billiard room, an ofhce 
and the editorial room of The Polytechnic; the 
second, an assembly room, a reading room, a pantry 
and a kitchen; and the third, three bedrooms, two 
committee rooms, a room for the Press Club, and 
a storage room. A porch 70 feet long and 10 
feet wide overlooks the athletic field. 

Up to this time there had been no headquarters 
for the student activities of the school. Nearly 
eighteen years before, on October 25, 1890, the 
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute -Union had been 
formed for the purpose of encouraging and pro- 
moting athletics and other student activities, and 








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MORE LAND AND NEW BUILDINGS 129 

it had been in existence ever since. The relation 
of the R. P. I. Union to the new Rensselaer Stu- 
dents' Association had now to be seriously con- 
sidered. The absorption of the Union by the 
Association resulted in 1908, and the combined 
organizations took the name of the Rensselaer 
Union. 

According to the constitution of the Union its 
object is "to unite all students in a common desire 
to promote loyalty toward the Institute; to stand 
for high character, truth and justice; to build for 
true manhood by every form of individual and 
organized effort; to increase the percentage of 
graduates; and to provide an effective means of 
furthering the social life of the Institute and all 
lines of student activities." It is governed by an 
Executive Committee composed of the President 
of the Union, the Grand Marshal, the Treasurer, 
the Financial Secretary, the Recording Secretary, 
the Chairman of the Athletic Committee, the 
Business Manager of The Polytechnic, the Manager 
of the Glee Club and a member of the Faculty 
chosen by the Prudential Committee of the Board 
of Trustees. All members of the Committee, ex- 
cept the Faculty Member and the Treasurer, who 
is the Treasurer of the Institute, are students. 

The President and Grand Marshal are both 
elected from Division B at the end of the scholastic 
year. The President is the presiding officer of the 
Union and Chairman of the Executive Committee. 
The Grand Marshal is regarded as the leader of the 
student body. He has jurisdiction over all inter- 



130 HISTORY OF RENSSELAER INSTITUTE 

class contests, and is an ex-officio member of all 
standing committees of the Union. The first one 
was elected from the class of 1866, and there has 
been one for each succeeding class except those 
from 1 89 1 to 1894, inclusive. The names of all of 
them are given in Appendix III. 

The Executive Committee has control, under 
direction of the Board of Trustees of the Institute, 
not only of the club-house but of the '86 athletic 
field, the athletic games and the student activities 
generally. In 1912 it took The Polytechnic under 
its charge. At first an annual fee of five dollars 
was charged for membership in the Union, and 
although all students had the right to use the 
athletic field, only those who paid this fee were 
permitted to use the club-house and vote for the 
Grand Marshal and other officers of the Union. 
This was continued until the erection of the '87 
gymnasium, when the tuition fee was increased by 
five dollars a year for all students and all became 
members of the Union without any other payment. 
At present there are ten standing committees: 
the House, Athletic, ReHgious Work, Hop, Judg- 
ment, The Polytechnic, Book, and Nominating, and 
the Committees on Co-operation and Musical 
Clubs. 

The Union now has control of the football, base- 
ball, basketball, hockey and track teams, the Glee 
and Mandolin Clubs, the Orchestra and the Band, 
the Union Hops, The Polytechnic^ the Students' 
Handbook, the Press Club, and the Book Com- 
mittee. 



ATHLETICS 131 

An idea of the operations of the Union may be 
obtained from a consideration of the sources of its 
income for the year 1913-14. The income was 
$14,706.65, obtained from the following sources: 
Students' Handbook, $126.75; ^^^ Polytech- 
nic, $1,500.00; Football, $1,966.40; Basketball, 
$1,180.00; Hockey, $296.45; Baseball, $650.00; 
Track, $300.00; Union Hops, $175.00; Pool and 
Billiards, $650.00; and sale of text-books, $8,000.00. 
The sale of text-books results from the work of the 
Book Committee, which sells text-books to students 
for cash at a considerable reduction from the list 
price of publishers or the prices of retail dealers in 
the city. 

The formation of the Rensselaer Union has had 
a very beneficial effect upon athletics at the Insti- 
tute. The various branches have been placed upon 
a much more businesslike basis. In order, how- 
ever, to prevent some of the students from neglect- 
ing their work in order to play on the teams, an 
Athletic Committee of the Faculty was appointed 
in 1909 and rules were inaugurated and are en- 
forced which prevent students in poor standing 
from taking part in intercollegiate games. 

There has been an Institute baseball team since 
1885. Ten games are arranged each year with 
teams of near-by institutions. The class teams 
also play among themselves and have an annual 
contest for a silver cup. The football team has a 
schedule of ten games and the basketball team one 
of about twenty. No definite number is played by 
the hockey team, for which an outside rink is pro- 



132 HISTORY OF RENSSELAER INSTITUTE 

vided on the Institute property north of Avenue B. 
The track team has annually three dual meets 
with teams of other institutions, and there is also 
an interclass meet, after which the winning class 
has its numerals engraved upon the Robb cup, 
and the winner of the greatest number of points 
has his mane placed on the Seymour cup. Each 
member of the Institute baseball, football, basket- 
ball or hockey team who has taken part in a 
certain number of intercollegiate games, or of the 
track team who has scored a certain number of 
points in an intercollegiate meet, as well as the 
managers of the teams and the Grand Marshal and 
President of the Rensselaer Union, have the right 
to wear a sweater with the letter R upon it; the 
form of the letter being different for different 
teams. Under certain conditions the right to wear 
class numerals is conferred upon some of the stu- 
dents taking part in interclass games. The right 
to wear letters and numerals is jealously guarded. 
The track and field records made on the Institute 
field by Institute students follow: 

lOO Yard Dash — Trow 'i6 — lo sec, May 9, 1914. 

440 Yard Run — Gifford '06 — 53 sec, May 30, 1903. 

120 Yard High Hurdle — Waters' 1 1 — 16 2-5 sec, May 9, 1908. 

1 Mile Run — Scrafford '09 — 4 min. 44 4-5 sec. May 16, 1908. 
220 Yard Low Hurdle — Waters '11 — 26 3-5 sec, May 16, 

1908. 
880 Yard Run — Scrafford '09 — 2 min. 5 3-5 sec, May 25, 

1907. 
220 Yard Dash — Torney '10 — 22 4-5 sec. May 25, 1907. 

2 Mile Run — Osgood '13 — 10 min. 24 3-5 sec, May 7, 1910. 
Pole Vault — Lippett '11 — 10' 6", May 16, 1908. 



ATHLETICS 133 

Shot Put— Cox '11—38' 7", May 9, 1908. 
High Jump — Williams '12 — 5' 6 1-2", May 14, 1910. 
Hammer Throw — Howland '12 — iii' 6", May 7, 1910. 
Broad Jump — Trow '16 — 23' 2" , May 23, 1914. 
Discus Throw — Magor '12 — 107' o", May 7, 1910. 



CHAPTER IX 

RUSSELL SAGE. MECHANICAL AND ELECTRICAL 

COURSES. GRADUATE COURSES. 

'87 GYMNASIUM 

Mr. Russell Sage, a well-known financier of 
New York City, was elected a Trustee of the In- 
stitute June 24, 1896. He died July 22, 1906. In 
November of the same year the writer had an 
interview with Mr. Robert W. DeForest, the coun- 
selor and confidential adviser of Mrs. Sage, during 
which he asked for a donation of $1,000,000 to 
establish a Russell Sage School of Mechanical En- 
gineering. Later in the month he had an interview 
with Mrs. Sage, and afterwards received a letter 
dated January 21, 1907, which reads as follows: 

" Dear Mr. Ricketts: 

" I have told you of my intention to give one 
million dollars to the Troy Polytechnic, and I 
know, from my conversation with you and from 
what Mr. Robert W. DeForest has reported to 
me of his interview with you, the general purposes 
for which you intend to use it. 

" I will immediately send you my check for 
$100,000. If it does not accompany this letter 
it will follow it, and I shall be ready to pay the 
balance upon your request whenever it may be 
needed, at any time after May ist, 1907. 

134 



MECHANICAL AND ELECTRICAL COURSES 135 

" I write this letter so as to make my gift, to 
which I attach no conditions, a personal obliga- 
tion upon me, and in the event of my death be- 
fore consummating it, upon my estate. It is 
right that you should have such a letter before 
you begin to make your plans. 

" I am quite willing that this gift should be 
announced pursuant to your desire, at the meeting 
of your Trustees and of your Alumni, to be held, 
as I understand, some ten days hence, and to leave 
the form of announcement to you, except that in 
making the announcement I should like to have 
the fact of my own and Mr. Sage's previous rela- 
tions to and interest in the Polytechnic made 
apparent, as a reason for the gift, and as differen- 
tiating the Polytechnic from other institutions who 
have made applications to which I have not re- 
sponded, and with which neither Mr. Sage nor 
myself had any personal or official relations. 
" Sincerely yours, 

'' Margaret Olivia Sage." 

A check for $100,000 was enclosed with the 
letter, and the remainder of the million dollars 
was given later in the year. 

Both Mr. and Mrs. Sage had been interested in 
Troy institutions for many years. Mrs. Sage was 
graduated at the Emma Willard School, and Mr. 
Sage's nephew, Russell Sage, 2d, was graduated 
at the Institute in the class of 1859. A consider- 
able part of Mr. Sage's life was spent in Troy. His 
early business experience was obtained here. He 



136 



HISTORY OF RENSSELAER INSTITUTE 



was elected to the United States House of Rep- 
resentatives from this district and served two 
terms, from 1854 to 1858. In 1863 he moved to 
New York City and began the business career 
which afterwards placed him amongst the great 
financiers of the country. 

During the last part of the year 1906, the advis- 
ability of the establishment of schools of mechan- 
ical and electrical engineering had been thoroughly 
discussed by graduates, faculty, and trustees. 
There was a diversity of opinion among the grad- 
uates, a considerable number of them maintaining 
that, as the Institute had been a school of civil 
engineering for such a long time and had made its 
name as a school of civil engineering, it should 
remain so ; that its course should be broadened and 
that no specialization should be permitted. They 
declared that civil engineering covered all branches 
of engineering other than military and that grad- 
uates of the Institute were fully equipped to begin 
the practice of their profession in any branch. 
This did not agree with the practice of other 
schools. In fact, as has been recorded in this 
history, three engineering courses other than civil 
had once been established in this school, but they 
had been discontinued on account of want of funds. 
The truth is that the field of engineering had been 
broadening very rapidly and that it was not 
possible to give in one course four, or even five 
years in duration, all the fundamental principles 
necessary to equip a student to begin the intelli- 
gent practice of his profession in civil or mechani- 



MECHANICAL AND ELECTRICAL COURSES 137 

cal or electrical engineering as he might choose. 
In order to include all the subjects in the four 
engineering courses given here at the present 
time (1914) it would be necessary for a student to 
remain in the Institute between eight and nine 
years. 

After a careful consideration of this question 
the Faculty, at a meeting held January 26, 1907, 
unanimously passed the following set of resolu- 
tions : 

Resolved, That in the opinion of this faculty 
the establishment of schools of Mechanical and 
Electrical Engineering would be advisable and 
would be of great benefit to the school, provided 
the Board of Trustees have at their disposal suffi- 
cient money to properly inaugurate such schools. 

Resolved, That in the opinion of the faculty the 
usefulness of the school would be enlarged if it 
were a true polytechnic institute and not as 
at present practically only a school of Civil 
Engineering. 

Resolved, That we believe the establishment of 
well-equipped schools of Mechanical and Electrical 
Engineering would be a long step towards chang- 
ing the school into a true polytechnic institute ; and 

Resolved, That in passing these resolutions it is 
the opinion of the faculty that such schools, if 
established, should be quite similar in character to 
the school of Civil Engineering at present existing; 
that they should decidedly not be only special 
schools either of Mechanical or Electrical Engineer- 
ing, but that they should be general schools of 



138 HISTORY OF RENSSELAER INSTITUTE 

Engineering similar to the existing school of 
Civil Engineering, but with some of the Civil 
Engineering subjects replaced in each by others 
more necessary for the education of a Mechanical 
or an Electrical Engineer. 

On February 6, 1907, the Board of Trustees held 
a meeting at which resolutions of thanks to Mrs. 
Sage were passed, and at which the Faculty was 
directed "to submit to the Board an outline of the 
scheme proposed, giving such information as is 
obtainable regarding the courses of instruction and 
number of new professors necessary." And at a 
meeting on March 14, the Board, after consider- 
able discussion. 

Resolved, That courses in Mechanical and Elec- 
trical Engineering, leading to the degrees of Me- 
chanical and Electrical Engineer, be established at 
the Institute, and that a committee consisting of 
the Prudential Committee, Vice President, and 
Treasurer of the Board be appointed with power 
to do whatever may be necessary to inaugurate 
such courses. 

The course in Civil Engineering at the Institute 
had been, ever since the reorganization in 1849-50, 
a very general one. The fundamental principles 
of all branches of engineering had been taught in 
it; as much as had been possible in a course four 
years in duration. The courses in Mechanical and 
Electrical Engineering established by this resolu- 
tion of the Board were each also four years in 
length and were likewise very general in their char- 
acter. The first two years in all were nearly iden- 




MECHANICAL AND ELECTRICAL COURSES 139 

tical, the principles of all were taught in each, and 
the greatest divergence took place in the last year. 
Each term of all the Institute courses is divided 
into three parts: the advance course, from four- 
teen to fifteen weeks in duration ; the review, about 
three weeks; and the examination, which takes 
from a week to ten days. At the time of the es- 
tablishment of the two new courses the number of 
hours of instruction, in the advance only, of the 
Civil Engineering course, in each department, was 
as follows: Mathematics and Astronomy, 289; 
Surveying, 595; Stereotomy and Descriptive Ge- 
ometry, 340; Chemistry, 315; French, 130; Eng- 
lish, 68; Physics and Electricity, 333; Metallurgy, 
20; Botany, 13; Geology and Mineralogy, 45; 
Steam Engines, 60; Mechanics, which includes 
Rational Mechanics, Structures, Resistance of 
Materials, and Hydraulics, 364. These numbers 
will be better understood by referring to Appendix 
II, in which the curriculums as at present (1914) 
given will be found. No hours of review or 
examination are counted for these comparative 
numbers. 

After careful study the Faculty concluded that 
the differences between the courses in Mechanical 
and Electrical Engineering and that in Civil 
Engineering should be about 26 per cent, of 
the time given to instruction during the advance 
period and that the difference between the course 
in Mechanical and that in Electrical Engineering 
should be about 12}^ per cent. The greatest 
difference between the courses occurred natur- 



140 HISTORY OF RENSSELAER INSTITUTE 

ally during the last two years. In Division A 
the difference between the Civil and the other 
two courses was about 50 per cent. 

For the use of the two new departments the 
Trustees determined to erect, at a cost of about 
$300,000, a building to be known as the Russell 
Sage Laboratory. The remaining $700,000 of 
Mrs. Sage's gift was set apart as a fund for the 
endowment of the Department of Mechanical 
Engineering. The contract for the building was 
signed February 11, 1908, and it was completed 
in March, 1909. It was formally opened June 15 
of the same year, at which time addresses were 
made by Robert W. De Forest, of New York City, 
who represented Mrs. Sage, Jesse M. Smith, then 
President of the American Society of Mechanical 
Engineers, and Lewis B. Stillwell, at that time 
President-elect of the American Institute of Elec- 
trical Engineers. 

The building was erected on a hillside, with its 
front face on the main campus at its highest 
level. Like all the other new buildings, except 
the Club House, it is constructed of Harvard 
brick with Indiana limestone trimmings and fire- 
proof floors. The interior layout of the east wing 
with its machinery was made by Dr. W. L. Robb, 
who had been the Professor of Electrical Engineer- 
ing and Physics since 1902, and that of the west 
wing with its machinery, by Professor Arthur M. 
Greene, who had come to the school from the 
University of Missouri, in 1907, as Professor of 
Mechanical Engineering. The structure is 246 



MECHANICAL AND ELECTRICAL COURSES 141 

feet long and 80 feet in depth, except the central 
portion of 50 feet, which is 100 feet in depth. 
There are eighty-three rooms in it. The west 
wing contains the department of Mechanical 
Engineering and the east wing the department of 
Electrical Engineering. The central portion is 
used by both departments. This portion contains 
a large lecture room capable of seating over 400 
people, a reference library, a museum, and a large 
drawing-room. It also contains lockers, wash 
rooms, janitor's quarters, and the laboratory for 
the large 600,000-pound machine for testing ma- 
terials of construction. The west wing is 100 by 
80 feet in plan and five stories in height. In it 
are the laboratories, class rooms, draughting- 
rooms, and offices of the department of Mechanical 
Engineering. The laboratories occupy the sub- 
basement, basement, and the larger part of the 
first floor of this half of the building, while the 
class rooms and lecture rooms occupy portions of 
the first, second, and third floors. The draugh ting- 
rooms are in the northwest corner of the second 
and third floors, and the offices are arranged on 
the different floors for convenience. Lecture 
rooms, which may be used as recitation rooms, are 
found on the second and third floors. The sub- 
basement floor contains three laboratories: the 
steam laboratory, the hydraulic laboratory, and 
the internal-combustion engine and refrigeration 
laboratory. 

The east wing is 100 by 80 feet in plan and four 
stories in height. In it are the laboratories, class 



142 HISTORY OF RENSSELAER INSTITUTE 

rooms, draughting-rooms, and offices of the de- 
partment of Electrical Engineering. The base- 
ment of this wing contains the generating plant, 
dynamo laboratory, storage battery, transformer 
rooms, electro-chemical laboratory, rooms for 
blue-printing and photographic work, and the 
instrument shop. The first floor contains lecture 
and recitation rooms and offices; the second, 
laboratories and research rooms; and the third, 
laboratories for physics and a large drawing-room. 

There are also laboratories for electrical measure- 
ments; for studying high tension and alternating 
currents; for investigating wave forms and other 
alternating -current phenomena, including phase 
relations, field discharge, resonance, and initial 
conditions in circuits and cables; for the calibra- 
tion, standardization, and testing of instruments, 
apparatus and materials used in electrical en- 
gineering, and for research work. 

The actual cost of the building and furniture 
was $312,000. The machines and apparatus for 
the department of Mechanical Engineering cost 
about $40,000, and the value of those in the de- 
partment of Electrical Engineering, including the 
material moved from the Proudfit Laboratory, 
was about the same. The 600,000-pound mate- 
rials testing machine and the impact testing 
machine, which are a part of the equipment of the 
department of Rational and Technical Mechanics, 
cost $13,000. So that the total value of the ma- 
chines and apparatus in the building was $93,000 
and that of the building, furniture, and apparatus 



MECHANICAL AND ELECTRICAL COURSES 143 

was $405,000. More apparatus and machinery 
have since been installed so that the present total 
value is about $420,000. The structure was erected 
when work was scarce and the price for it was low. 
As it stands it probably could not, with its contents, 
be replaced for less than $450,000. A detailed 
description of the laboratories in the building, as 
they exist to-day, is given in Appendix IV. 

In 1909 a fund was raised among the Alumni to 
purchase portraits of Mr. and Mrs. Sage. Mrs. 
Sage, however, presented the two handsome por- 
traits which are now hung in the Museum on the 
second floor of the building. 

Though the act of Legislature of 1861, which 
consolidated the previous laws relating to the 
school, had been amended twice, and the special 
act of 1898 had been passed, there remained in 
Section i a clause to the effect that the Trustees 
had the power "to purchase, take, and hold, by 
gift, grant, or otherwise, and to dispose of any real 
and personal property, the yearly income of which 
shall not exceed ten thousand dollars." At the 
time of the receipt of the Sage gift the annual in- 
come of the Institute from gifts and investments 
already exceeded ten thousand dollars, and the gift 
showed the necessity of a change in Section i. 
Accordingly this was amended by a law dated 
February 16, 1907, and by which the income of the 
school was not limited to any specific sum. This 
is the last act relating to the school passed to the 
present time. 

Four engineering courses have been referred to 



144 HISTORY OF RENSSELAER INSTITUTE 

in preceding pages as being in existence in the In- 
stitute at the present time (1914). The fourth one 
to be inaugurated was that in Chemical Engineer- 
ing. The General Science course contained much 
chemistry ; was intended to prepare chemists rather 
than engineers. After the establishment of the 
courses in mechanical and electrical engineering 
the Faculty began to consider seriously the advis- 
ability of recommending to the trustees a course 
which would contain a considerable amount of 
chemistry, much more than was given in the engi- 
neering courses already in operation, and also much 
more engineering, particularly mechanical and elec- 
trical engineering, than was given in the General 
Science course. The object was to give a course 
which would better prepare a young graduate to 
take up work leading to the management of indus- 
trial plants than would any of the engineering 
courses or the course in science already established. 
Such a course was then being given in about ten 
of the leading schools of engineering. The recom- 
mendation was made in May, 191 3, and in Sep- 
tember of that year the course was in operation 
with eighteen students in Division D. The cur- 
riculum is given in Appendix II. 

At the annual meeting of the Board of Trustees 
in May, 1913, graduate courses leading to Master's 
and Doctor's degrees were established. The former 
are one year in duration and are conferred in the 
five subdivisions corresponding to the undergrad- 
uate courses; that is, they lead to the degrees 
M.C.E., M.M.E.. M.E.E., M.Ch.E., and M.S. 




Steam Laboratory 




View from Steam to Gas Engine Laboratory 




View from Hydraulic to Steam Laboratory 




Flumes and Water Wheels 



MECHANICAL AND ELECTRICAL COURSES 145 

Three years, two of which must be spent in resi- 
dence, are required for the Doctor's degrees, of which 
three are given: Doctor of Science, Sc.D.; Doctor 
of Philosophy, Ph.D.; and Doctor of Engineering, 
Eng.D. These courses can only be taken by grad- 
uates of higher institutions of learning whose 
undergraduate courses and the character of whose 
undergraduate work fit them, in the opinion of 
the Faculty, to take them. The major work may 
be taken in any one of eleven subdivisions in en- 
gineering or science: Railroad Engineering, High- 
way Engineering, Hydraulic Engineering, Sanitary 
Engineering, Structural Engineering, Steam and 
Gas Engineering, Machine Design, Electrical En- 
gineering, Chemical Engineering, Chemistry, and 
Pure and Applied Mathematics. Sufficient time 
has not elapsed since the creation of these courses 
for a Doctor's degree to have been given. The 
first Master's degree, M.M.E., was taken in 1914 
by Edwards Kneass, M.E., '13, whose father, 
Strickland L. Kneass, was graduated in the class 
of '80, and whose grandfather, Strickland Kneass, 
was graduated in the class of '39. Mr. Kneass was 
on a Russell Sage, 2nd, Fellowship. 

In 1910 the Institute offered scholarships giving 
free tuition to the five male graduates of high 
schools and academies in the State of New York 
who, of all applicants, obtained the highest marks 
in examinations held by the Regents, in the sub- 
jects necessary for entrance. Not more than two 
scholarships could be obtained by candidates 
from any one county. This practice has been 



146 HISTORY OF RENSSELAER INSTITUTE 

continued each year since then. There are now 
twenty students holding these scholarships. 

In recognition of the interest taken in the 
Institute and the aid given it by the Pittsburgh 
Alumni Association, the trustees, in 191 1, created 
a Pittsburgh Scholarship giving the Association the 
privilege of keeping one student from Pittsburgh 
always at the Institute without the payment of 
tuition. 

The value of a perpetual scholarship, which 
permits one student to be kept constantly at the 
Institute without the payment of tuition, was 
fixed by the trustees in 1910 at not less than 
$7,500. The first of these scholarships was es- 
tablished in 191 3 by Charles Wiggins, of the class 
of '78, and the Board gave it his name. The 
second, called the Alfonzo Bills Scholarship, was 
established by the will of Mrs. Charlotte H. 
Knight, of Troy, for graduates of the Troy High 
School. It became effective in 19 14. These are 
the only two endowed scholarships. 

In 1913 the sum of $30,000 was given by Mrs. 
Russell Sage to establish two fellowships of 
$15,000 each, with the understanding that the 
interest from each was to be used for the support 
and instruction of a graduate of the Institute, or 
of some other similar institution, who should 
pursue his studies for the Master's or Doctor's 
degree at the school under rules formulated by the 
Board of Trustees. She stipulated that they 
should be called the Russell Sage, 2nd, Fellowships, 
in memory of Russell Sage, 2nd, who was graduated 



MECHANICAL AND ELECTRICAL COURSES 147 

from the Institute in the class of '59. One of 
these fellowships was given to Edwards Kneass, 
elsewhere referred to, and the other to Frederick 
M. Sebast, E.E., '13, who is a candidate for a 
Doctor's degree. 

No good reason has ever been given for the 
erection of the Alumni Building on Second Street, 
so far away from the other buildings and so far 
below them. Its use as the office of the Director 
was extremely inconvenient. The library, while 
in it, was almost useless. The collections in it 
compelled its use for the teaching of geology and 
mineralogy to the great inconvenience and loss of 
time of students all of whose other recitations took 
place in the buildings half a mile away from the 
Alumni Building and on the hill about one hundred 
feet above it. When the Warren property was 
bought and buildings began to be erected still 
farther up the hill and the number of students 
began to increase greatly, the inconvenience 
became still greater and the trustees exercised 
great self-restraint in not using a part of the Sage 
gift for a new administration building. They 
wisely decided to wait for a time and see if a build- 
ing, of such value and importance, would not be 
presented. It was presented toward the end of 
1909 by the Pittsburgh Alumni Association, who 
decided to give $125,000 for this purpose; being 
perhaps unique among buildings owned by institu- 
tions of learning in this country in the fact that it 
was presented by the alumni of a single city. It 
is called the Pittsburgh Building. The building 



148 HISTORY OF RENSSELAER INSTITUTE 

was designed by W. G. Wilkins, '79, of Pittsburgh, 
who gave his services as an architect without 
compensation, and the construction was begun 
in 1910, though the death of the contractor pre- 
vented its completion until February, 1912. It 
is built of Harvard brick and Indiana limestone 
like the others, and is of fireproof construction. 
Situated on the winding road through the grounds, 
partly on the site of the Ranken House, which was 
destroyed to make way for it, two of its five 
stories are below and two above the main floor, 
which is on the road's level. Janitors' quarters 
and store rooms occupy the first floor and a book- 
stack room for the library and rooms for the 
distribution of literature and the exhibition of 
drawings, the second. The main floor contains a 
book-stack room, a reading room, a room for the 
meetings of Trustees and Faculty, and the offtces 
of the President, Treasurer, and Registrar, The 
Geological and Mineralogical Museum and a 
lecture room and office for the Professor of Geology 
occupy the fourth floor, and the whole of the fifth 
is taken up by a room, 64 by 100 feet in size, 
which was intended for a draughting room, when 
another one becomes necessary, though it is at 
present used for social functions of the students. 
The structure was formally presented and dedicated 
on Alumni Day, June 13, 191 1, the presentation 
speech being made by George S. Davison, '78, of 
Pittsburgh, a trustee of the school. The total 
value of the building, including an allowance for 
the architect's fee, is $132,400. The contents. 



MECHANICAL AND ELECTRICAL COURSES 149 

including books and specimens, is valued at 
$59,900. 

In the description of the Pittsburgh Building 
it is seen that the whole floor above the main one 
is devoted to instruction in geology and mineralogy. 
More than half of the space is taken up by the 
museum. When the collection was moved from 
the Alumni Building the floor space was doubled, 
new cases were provided at a cost of $9,600, and 
new specimens were bought to round out and 
complete the minerals as well as the rocks and 
fossils. There are altogether about 15,500 speci- 
mens valued at $12,200. These collections com- 
pare very favorably with those of the larger 
universities. The mineralogical collection is in 
many respects better than that of the State. 

When the number of students began to grow 
larger, and especially after the purchase of the 
Warren property and the land between it and 
Fifteenth Street, an agitation began for an athletic 
field and a gymnasium on the upper level of the 
campus. The gymnasium on Broadway was much 
too small, was not of modern design, and was 
nearly 150 feet below the level of the surface 
of most of the new land. Members of the class of 
'86 agreed to bear the expense of filling in a de- 
pression in a part of the new land, and thus in the 
summer of 1906 the '86 athletic field was con- 
structed at a cost of about $7,000. 

In 1910 the trustees appointed a committee of 
the Board, consisting of Messrs. W. F. Gurley, J. 
H. Caldwell, and A. H. Renshaw, to investigate 



150 HISTORY OF RENSSELAER INSTITUTE 

the feasibility of the estabhshment of a depart- 
ment of physical culture. They employed Dr. 
Sargent, of Harvard University, who reported that 
the gymnasium on Broadway was entirely in- 
adequate for the use of the number of students 
then in the school. The committee concluded, 
after careful investigation, that a completely 
equipped, modern gymnasium was necessary for 
the establishment of a department of physical 
culture. In June, 1910, the Alumni Association 
appointed a committee consisting of Tracy C. 
Drake, '86; R. B. C. Bement, '69; E. V. Z. Lane, 
'75; F. C. Osborn, '80; and P. W. Henry, '87, to 
solicit funds for a new gymnasium. At the next 
June meeting the committee reported that about 
$25,000 had been subscribed. This could not be 
considered a very small amount when it is re- 
membered that the Alumni had contributed 
hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Institute 
in the five years preceding this time. It was not 
necessary for the committee to continue its work, 
however, for at this meeting Stewart Johnston, of 
the class of '87, a member of the Board of Trustees, 
announced that his class would give $150,000 for 
the erection and equipment of the building. The 
erection was begun in August of the same year, 
but the construction was delayed and the structure 
was not ready for use until November, 19 12. 

The building is situated toward, the northeast 
end of our main plot adjacent to the athletic field 
and near Avenue B. In outside measurement it is 
126 feet long and 73 feet wide. In appearance it is 



MECHANICAL AND ELECTRICAL COURSES 151 

similar to the other new buildings, having faces 
of Harvard brick with trimmings of Indiana lime- 
stone. Fireproof construction is used throughout, 
the floors being of steel and concrete with upper 
surfaces of maple. The basement contains a 
swimming pool 30 by 75 feet in size. A filter 
plant and other necessary machinery are in rooms 
adjacent to the pool. There are four bowling 
alleys in a room beside the pool, with a room 
containing 818 lockers and shower baths on a 
mezzanine floor above the alleys. The first floor, 
which is entered from the athletic grounds, con- 
tains a basketball room, a squash court, a room 
for wrestling and fencing, a room for inside baseball 
practice, rooms for measuring and weighing students 
and the ofhce of the Professor of Physical Train- 
ing. The main floor, for gymnastic practice, is 
above the first floor, and is 120 by 67 feet in size. 
There is a running track of twenty laps to the 
mile, supported on wall brackets and suspended 
from the roof trusses, around the sides of this room. 
The building cost $145,000, and the apparatus and 
furniture $16,600, a total for both of $162,000. 
The class gave $163,000. The formal presentation 
to the trustees took place on June 13, 191 1, 
though the structure was not finished at that 
time. The presentation address was made by 
Stewart Johnston. 

The Trustee Committee, in the meantime, had 
recommended compulsory athletics for members of 
Division D. This was carried into effect, and the 
class of 191 6 was the first class to use the gymnasium 



152 HISTORY OF RENSSELAER INSTITUTE 

in this way. A lecture course, three weeks' dura- 
tion, on hygiene is given members of Division D 
as soon as they matriculate. In the meantime 
each member of the class is subjected to a careful 
physical examination and at the end of the lectures 
his compulsory exercise, of an hour a day for three 
days one week and two the next, begins and lasts 
for the remainder of the year. Field athletics at 
certain seasons may take the place of this exercise. 
Naturally many students besides the members of 
Division D use the gymnasium. 

At this time the tuition fee was increased by $5 
a year, to $205, and the club-house was thrown 
open for the use of all students. The amount 
obtained from the increase in the tuition does not, 
of course, half cover the annual cost of maintenance 
of the gymnasium alone, without considering the 
expense of maintaining the club-house and ath- 
letic field. At present there are a Professor of 
Physical Training and an Assistant in charge of 
the gymnasium. 

Many of the subscribers to the Gymnasium 
Fund, when the class of '87 agreed to give the 
building, changed their subscriptions to a Library 
Fund, the interest of which is to be used to help 
maintain the library. The sum of $2,400 origin- 
ally subscribed for the Sage portraits was also 
placed in this fund, which amounts, including sub- 
scriptions yet to be paid, to $25,600. The library 
is first mentioned, in the earliest pamphlet contain- 
ing the constitution and laws of the school, which 
is dated March 11, 1825, as "a very ample scien- 



MECHANICAL AND ELECTRICAL COURSES 153 

tific library, to which the members of the institution 
will have free access." Ample, in this case, cer- 
tainly must have been a relative term. As has 
been noted before, there were, in 1846, three hun- 
dred and ninety-six volumes of an estimated value 
of $973.45. After the fire of 1862 the library was 
placed in a room on the second floor of the Main 
Building when it was finished in 1864. This re- 
mained the Faculty room and Library until the 
completion of the Alumni Building in 1893, when 
the books were moved to the back room on the 
first floor of this building. In 1894 it contained 
about six thousand volumes and three thousand 
pamphlets. The professional library and drawings 
of Alexander L. Holley, formerly a trustee of the 
Institute, were bequeathed to it in 1882. In Feb- 
ruary, 19 1 2, the books were transferred to the 
Pittsburgh Building, which was given partly for 
the purpose of providing a library and reading room 
adjacent to the other buildings. This building has 
two book-stack rooms capable of containing 
125,000 volumes and a reading room capable of 
seating more than one hundred students. Book 
stacks capable of holding 25,000 volumes are pro- 
vided. Up to the time of its removal to the Pitts- 
burgh Building, the school could scarcely be said 
to have had a library of much use to the students. 
It had been only imperfectly catalogued and for 
twenty years had been almost inaccessible to the 
students on account of its distance from the other 
buildings. In 191 2, however, the librarian and 
assistant immediately began a card catalogue 



154 HISTORY OF RENSSELAER INSTITUTE 

which has been continued to this time. The h- 
brary is composed, with very few exceptions, of 
volumes relating to science and engineering. The 
number, March i, 1914, was 10,827, and there 
were about 11,000 pamphlets. The periodicals 
regularly received, and which are placed in the 
reading room, number 107. There have been cat- 
alogued to date 10,024 books and 3,500 pamphlets, 
on about 28,000 separate cards. The books are 
conservatively valued at $20,900. 

In 191 2 the Institute was admitted to the list 
of accepted institutions of the Carnegie Foundation 
for the Advancement of Teaching, so that any 
member of its Faculty who has attained the age of 
sixty-four years, with an experience of twenty-five 
years as a teacher, may be retired and receive a 
pension for the rest of his life from the Foundation. 



CHAPTER X 

ALUMNI AND STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS. PUBLICA- 
TIONS. STATISTICS OF GRADUATES 

Ever since the reorganization of the Institute by 
B. Franklin Greene each candidate for a degree has 
been required to present a thesis on some subject 
germane to his course. Such theses are read at 
commencement, and one of the conditions for 
graduation is that they must be approved by the 
Faculty. In order to improve their quality Charles 
Macdonald, C.E., LL.D., a graduate of the class 
of 1857, established, September 24, 1890, a prize 
consisting of the net annual income from $2,000, 
to be given to that member of Division A, in each 
year, who should, on graduating, present the best 
thesis involving a design for an engineering work 
or an investigation of a process or natural product, 
or of a natural law of especial interest to civil engi- 
neers. This prize is awarded at the commencement 
following that at which the competitor graduates. 
It has proved of much value as it increases the in- 
terest taken in their theses by those students com- 
peting for it, and incidentally has been effective in 
improving the character of all which are presented. 
Twenty-three graduates have received this prize. 
Their names and classes are given in Appendix V. 

The Alumni Association of the Institute was or- 

155 



156 HISTORY OF RENSSELAER INSTITUTE 

ganized at Troy, June 22, 1869. Annual meetings 
are held on commencement day of each year at 
Troy, and of late years it has been customary to 
hold winter reunions some time during February in 
one of the larger cities of the country containing a 
considerable number of resident graduates. Such 
meetings have been held in New York, Philadel- 
phia, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Kansas City, Cleveland, 
and Albany, and a summer meeting was held, 
during the Columbian Exposition, at Chicago, in 
August, 1893. The first general reunion was held 
February 18, 1881, in New York, at the residence 
of Hon. Clarkson N. Potter of the class of 1843. 
The names of graduates who have been presidents 
of the Association, with their terms of office, are 
given in Appendix VI. 

A number of local alumni associations have also 
been formed: one, February 10, 1888, at Kansas 
City, called the " Central R. P. I. Association" ; the 
''Pittsburgh Association of Graduates," May 11, 
1888; the "Chicago R. P. I. Association," Novem- 
ber 25, 1889; the "R. P. I. Alumni Association of 
New York City," January 17, 1893; the "Cuban 
R. P. I. Alumni Association," in Havana, January 
20, 1907; the "Cleveland R. P. I. Alumni Associ- 
ation," January 14, 1909; the "Rochester Alumni 
Association of R. P. I.," April, 191 1; and the "R. 
P. I. Alumni Association of Eastern New York," 
in Albany, May 4, 1911. 

In past years a number of attempts were made 
by undergraduates to publish periodicals in the 
interest of the students and alumni of the school. 



ALUMNI AND STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS 157 

The first number of the Rod and Leveller appeared 
November i8, 1865; and in May, 1884, the Rensse- 
laer Polytechnic Institute Quarterly was issued for 
the first time. These failed shortly after their in- 
ception. A successful effort in this direction, how- 
ever, was made by Tracy C. Drake of the class of 
1886, and the first number of the Polytechnic, with 
him and A. R. Elliott as editors, appeared Febru- 
ary 16, 1885. Since that time it has been issued 
regularly each month during the scholastic year 
and is now well supported by students and alumni. 
Since 1908 the paper has been under the manage- 
ment of the Rensselaer Union and, for the past two 
years, has had its headquarters in the Club House. 
It is published by a board of editors from different 
classes and each issue contains about twenty-five 
quarto pages of scientific and literary articles and of 
news items relating to the school and its graduates. 

The Transit, an annual issued under the auspices 
of the Fraternities by a board of editors selected 
from members of Division B, has been published 
for forty-nine consecutive years. The first num- 
ber, dated December, 1865, was issued by the class 
of 1867. Beside the roll of members of the classes, 
fraternities and societies, it contains lists of mem- 
bers of the athletic, glee and other clubs, and mis- 
cellaneous organizations. The Transit of the class 
of 1 914 is a profusely illustrated book of 361 pages. 

The "Selected Papers" of the Rensselaer Society 
of Engineers are also published at irregular inter- 
vals. These are often of much scientific value. 

The Hand Book, a little pocket book giving in- 



158 HISTORY OF RENSSELAER INSTITUTE 

formation about the Institute of value to new stu- 
dents, was first issued by the Young Men's Chris- 
tian Association of the school in 1893. When this 
association became a committee of the Rensselaer 
Union the publication was continued by the Union 
and it is now published by the Polytechnic Board. 
It now contains about one hundred pages and is 
distributed free to incoming students. 

In 19 1 2 and 19 13 the Polytechnic Board compiled 
a book of "Songs of Rensselaer." It is a quarto 
of one hundred and twenty pages of songs set to 
music. About a dozen were written especially for 
the school, and the others are college songs popular 
at the Institute. The first, "Old Rensselaer," was 
written by Mrs. E. H. Jarrett in 1908, and was 
dedicated to the class of 1889. The music, an old 
Welsh air entitled Ar Hyd y Nos, was selected by 
E. H. Jarrett, '89. The words of "Old Rensse- 
laer" follow: 

Thou hast sent us forth to labor, 

Old Rensselaer. 
We have wrought to win thy favor 

Year after year. 
Steel to wield and stone to shiver, 
Sink the mine and span the river, 
For thine honor toiling ever, 

Old Rensselaer. 

When thy sons are met together 

From far and near, 
Scarred with service, worn with weather, 

Old Rensselaer, 
Proud they lay their deeds before thee, 
Done to show the love they bore thee. 
Stronger grown as years pass o'er thee, 

Old Rensselaer. 



ALUMNI AND STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS 159 

When they write our nation's story, 

Splendid and clear, 
Surely great shall be thy glory, 

Old Rensselaer. 
In their works thy sons enshrined thee, 
Mighty works to leave behind thee, 
Motherland, let these remind thee 

Of old Rensselaer. 



It Is believed that the first publication issued by 
the trustees of Rensselaer School was a pamphlet 
of twenty- three pages entitled "The Constitution 
and Laws of Rensselaer School, in Troy, New 
York; adopted by the Board of Trustees, March ii, 
1825." It is dated March 14, 1825. Reference to 
it and its contents is made in a footnote on a pre- 
ceding page. There was not much regularity in 
either the number of pages or the date of issue of 
the earlier "notices" of the school. Until the 
reorganization in 1850, after which the "Annual 
Registers" were published once and often twice a 
year, the "notices" varied in length from one to 
forty pages; the latter issue containing a digest of 
the rules of the school and a triennial catalogue of 
the students. The names of the students were not 
regularly published until 1847, after which date 
they appeared in each issue of the catalogue. The 
names and addresses of graduates first appeared in 
the Register of November, i860, in which they 
occupied three pages. In the catalogue of 1914 
they, with the index and geographical index, occupy 
one hundred and thirty-six pages. The index was 
printed for the first time in the Register of October, 
1866, and the Geographical Index in that of June, 



160 HISTORY OF RENSSELAER INSTITUTE 

1890. The Annual Register of March, 1902, was 
pubhshed as Volume I, Number i, of a series of 
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute " Bulletins," which 
appear quarterly and are issued in March, June, 
September, and December. In 1903 the name of 
the March Bulletin was changed from Register to 
Catalogue, to make it conform in name to similar 
publications of other educational institutions. 
Since then the quarterly numbers have appeared 
regularly, consisting of a Commencement Number, 
generally containing a list of the theses of the 
graduating class and illustrations, with the other 
numbers containing generally either descriptions 
of the laboratories, a "Handbook of Information" 
describing the methods of instruction, or pamphlets 
describing the work of graduates. One of the lat- 
ter, referred to on a later page, entitled "A Partial 
Record of the Work of Graduates," consists of forty 
pages of text only and gives the names of many of 
the alumni who have attained high rank in the 
profession ; another of one hundred and eight pages, 
called "Photographic Reproductions of Work of 
Graduates," has a preface, only, in text, followed 
by one hundred and ninety-eight half-tone illustra- 
tions, showing some of the great engineering con- 
structions with which graduates have been con- 
nected as designers or constructors. The number 
of each issue varies generally from six to ten thou- 
sand, though two hundred and fifty-eight thousand 
copies of the June, 1912, Bulletin, an illustrated 
pamphlet of twenty-four pages, entitled "General 
Information, Curriculums, Illustrations," were dis- 




Part of Electrical Laboratory 




Experimental Electrical Laboratory 



TT 




Electrochemical Laboratory 




Measurements in Light 



ALUMNI AND STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS 161 

tributed. The Commencement number of Volume 
VI, 1907, contains the dedication of the Carnegie 
Building; that of Volume VIII, 1909, is entitled 
"The Formal Opening of the Russell Sage Labora- 
tory"; the dedication of the Pittsburgh Building is 
described in an extra to No. 2, Volume XI, 1912, 
and that of the 'SyGymnasiumin No. IV of the same 
volume. 

Two editions of an illustrated pamphlet of forty 
pages, in the Spanish language, entitled "Boletin 
del Instituto Politecnico de Rensselaer," have been 
issued in recent years. These are sent to applicants 
for catalogues in Spanish-American countries. 

Beside the Bulletins there is an "Engineering 
and Science Series" published by the authorities 
of the school. The first number appeared in Feb- 
ruary, 191 1, and the others have been published 
at irregular intervals since that time. The last 
was No. 6. The results of investigations made in 
the laboratories of the school, whether by profes- 
sors or students, are given in these pamphlets. The 
value of these investigations was recognized by 
Louis E. Laflin, of the class of '82, who gave, this 
year, the sum of $10,000, the interest on which is 
to be used to pay for materials and apparatus used 
in such work. 

The first college fraternity to establish a chapter 
at the Institute was the Theta Delta Chi. The 
Delta chapter was chartered in 1853, remained un- 
til 1870, was re-established in 1883, and ceased to 
exist in 1896. There are seven existing at present: 
the Alpha chapter of Theta Xi (1864), Lambda of 



162 HISTORY OF RENSSELAER INSTITUTE 

Delta Phi (1864), Psi Omega of Delta Kappa Ep- 
silon (1867), Theta of Chi Phi (1878), Upsilon of 
Delta Tau Delta (1879), Delta of Theta Chi (1909), 
and Gamma of Phi Sigma Delta (19 13). The Pi 
chapter of Zeta Psi was established in 1865 and 
withdrawn in 1893. Several others were chartered 
at various times but were withdrawn after an 
existence of one or two years. 

All of these fraternities have chapter houses. 
Only one, however, the Chi Phi, owns a house. 
This was built in 1912. It is situated on the corner 
of Avenue B and Fifteenth Street. Two other 
fraternities, the Theta Xi and Delta Phi, have 
recently bought land in the same neighborhood, 
upon which they expect to build in the near 
future. 

The Pi Eta Scientific Society, organized January, 
1866, became afterwards the Rensselaer Society of 
Engineers, which was incorporated by act of legis- 
lature in May, 1873. Papers are read by the stu- 
dent members at the meetings throughout the year 
and scientific lectures are also delivered at intervals 
by graduate members of the society and others. 

The Zeta chapter of the Sigma Xi Society was 
established at the Institute May 6, 1887. This 
society is modelled to some extent after Phi Beta 
Kappa, though it is not a secret society. Its under- 
graduate members are chosen only from those who 
have distinguished themselves in scholastic work. 

The Gamma chapter of Tau' Beta Pi was 
established at the Institute in 1908. It is an 
honorary engineering society. Its membership is 



ALUMNI AND STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS 163 

drawn from those members of Division B who 
stand among the first quarter of the class. 

The Rensselaer Technical Society has a purpose 
similar to that of the Rensselaer Society of En- 
gineers. It was organized in 1906 and incorpo- 
rated under the laws of the State in May, 1909. 

The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Student 
Branch of the American Society of Mechanical 
Engineers was organized in 19 10, and the Rensse- 
laer Polytechnic Institute Branch of the American 
Institute of Electrical Engineers was organized 
in the same year. Monthly meetings of both of 
these organizations are held, at which papers on 
engineering subjects are read and discussed. 

An organization called the "Student Council" 
was established in March, 1910, with a constitu- 
tion ratified by the Faculty and Board of Trustees. 
Its object, as defined by the constitution is "to 
furnish a high reward of merit for conscientious 
effort in furthering the best interests of the Insti- 
tute and its undergraduate organizations and to 
provide a representative body of men who, by 
virtue of their diversity of interest and influence, 
may be able fairly to represent the sanest phase of 
undergraduate opinion and form a link between 
the undergraduate body and the Faculty and 
Board of Trustees for the purpose of concerted 
effort along any line where such effort seems 
necessary and advisable." 

The Council is given authority to take into 
consideration the conduct of any student or body 
of students detrimental to the best interests of the 



164 HISTORY OF RENSSELAER INSTITUTE 

Institute and to recommend to the authorities 
such action as it may deem advisable. It is 
expected particularly to investigate all cases of 
wilful destruction of property of the Institute. 
Questions of interest to the student body are 
referred to it from time to time by the President. 
It has the power to confer with the Faculty and 
Prudential Committee of the Board of Trustees, 
but it may only recommend and has no executive 
authority. It consists of the Grand Marshal, 
ten members of Division A to serve one year and 
two members of Division B to serve two years. 
One member of Division A is chosen from each of 
the existing societies and fraternities and two 
from the neutral members of the class. The 
two members of Division B are neutrals. 

The Phalanx is a society composed of members 
of Division A, who have distinguished themselves 
in athletics and other activities. They are selected 
at the end of the third year, by the outgoing 
-active members. The society was organized in 
1912, by members of the Student Council, with the 
object of creating a body of students who would 
promote the growth of and encourage all student 
activities and interests. 

Many students' clubs have been formed at the 
school: The Union Hispano-Americana, organized 
in 1898, is composed of Spanish-American students; 
the K. C. N. Society of Chemists (1903); the 
Scalp and Blade, organized as the Buffalo Club 
in 1907; Phi Upsilon, of students in the chemical 
department (1906); the Williston Club, composed 




ALUMNI AND STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS 165 

of graduates of Williston Seminary; the member- 
ship of the Southern Club, organized in 1907, is 
confined to students from the Southern States ; the 
Scholarship Club takes its membership from 
those holding scholarships (191 1); the Aero- 
nautical Society, organized in 191 1; the British 
Club (191 2); the Western Club (19 12), ehgible 
only to students from States west of the Mississippi 
River; the Holyoke Club, of students from Hol- 
yoke, Mass.; the Chess and Checker Club, and 
the Campus Club (1913). The Connecticut Club, 
composed of students from that State, and the 
New Jersey Club, of students from New Jersey 
were both estabhshed in this year (1914). The 
Press Club was organized in 191 3 to collect and 
disseminate news regarding events of interest 
occurring at the school. It is composed of ten 
students and a member of the Faculty, who acts 
in an advisory capacity. The Club is under the 
jurisdiction of the Rensselaer Union. There are 
four musical organizations: the Glee Club, the 
Orchestra, the Mandolin Club, and the Band. Of 
these the Glee Club is the oldest, having been 
organized in i860, while the Orchestra and 
Mandolin Club originated in 1872. The number 
of members of each club varies from ten to thirty, 
depending upon the available material. Each 
club has its leader and a manager who makes 
arrangements for the concerts and takes care of 
the finances. Several concerts are given each 
year in Troy and near-by cities by the Mandolin 
and Glee Clubs and Orchestra, while the Band plays 



166 HISTORY OF RENSSELAER INSTITUTE 

at all the home athletic contests and at different 
school festivities held throughout the year. 

The Institute has had exhibits at six world's 
fairs. It sent some students' drawings to the 
World's Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposi- 
tion, held at New Orleans in 1884-85, and received 
a medal and diploma of the "First Order of 
Merit" for mechanical and free-hand drawing. It 
also obtained for its exhibit at the Universal Ex- 
position of the French Republic at Paris, in 1889, 
the only grand prize awarded to any American 
scientific school. At the World's Columbian 
Exposition of 1893, in Chicago, it exhibited the 
work of its students and graduates and received 
awards for each, worded as follows: "Superior in- 
struction in matter and method, through its long 
continued service. Marked attainments of its 
students in all forms of class work, including topog- 
raphy, railroad maps, mechanical drawing and 
theses"; and "The magnificent work of its gradu- 
ates, including (a) the arches of the Liberal Arts 
Building, (b) the Ferris Wheel, (c) the Brooklyn 
Bridge, (d) the Poughkeepsie Bridge, (e) the models 
of their inventions, (/) the bibliography of their 
publications." 

No medals were awarded to any exhibitor at 
Chicago. At the Pan-American Exposition in 
Buffalo, in 1901, a gold medal was given for 
"students' work and results" and one was received 
from the South Carolina Industrial and West 
Indian Exposition in Charleston, in 1902, for 
"educational methods and results." For the same 



ALUMNI AND STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS 167 

reason a grand prize was awarded for the exhibit 
at the Universal Exposition at St. Louis in 1904. 
No exhibit has been prepared for the Panama- 
Pacific International Exposition at San Francisco 
next year (191 5). 

Inquiries having been made, from time to time, 
for the coat-of-arms of the Institute for use in the 
decoration of rooms in university clubs in various 
cities, one was originated in 1904. It consists of a 
shield, the upper part of which contains the coat- 
of-arms of Stephen Van Rensselaer placed "in 
chief." That is, it is squeezed up together and 
placed across the top of the shield. The lower 
part of the shield contains the Institute colors, in 
three vertical bars, the outside ones in cherry and 
the middle one in white. On the white is the 
target of a levelling rod with part of the rod. 
The target was placed on the shield because it has 
been used as an Institute button by the students 
for a considerable number of years. It was 
evidently appropriate to use the coat-of-arms of 
the founder. The motto ''Knowledge and Thor- 
oughness" was originated and used because it was 
thought to represent that for which the Institute 
stands. In 1905 enameled pins were made of the 
shield, and these have since been worn by many 
graduates. Undergraduates are not supposed to 
wear them. They use the button resembling a 
level rod target. 

In the ninety years which have elapsed since 
the foundation of the Institute, from 1824 to 19 14, 
inclusive, there have been 2,117 graduates. Of 



168 • HISTORY OF RENSSELAER INSTITUTE 

« 

these 559 are known to be dead, so that about 
1,558 are Hving. This number cannot be given 
exactly, as there are doubtless a few dead, espe- 
cially in the early years, who have not been so 
recorded. Of these graduates, 67 received the 
degree A.B. (r.s.) ; 'j'j that of Bachelor of Natural 
Science, B.N.S.; 1,865 were graduated as Civil 
Engineers, C.E. ; 23 as Mining Engineers, M.E. ; 
five as Topographical Engineers, T.E. ; 38 as 
Mechanical Engineers, M.E.; 57 as Electrical 
Engineers, E.E. ; and the degree of Bachelor of 
Science was conferred upon 50. Twenty-one hun- 
dred and eighty-two degrees have therefore been 
conferred upon graduates. Sixty-four of them took 
two degrees each. Fifty-four of those who took two 
degrees were graduated before the reorganization 
of 1850, and obtained both C.E. and B.N.S. At 
the present time any one who takes a second 
degree has to remain two years to secure it. The 
figures given above refer to degrees for under- 
graduate work. Only one degree for graduate 
work, Master of Mechanical Engineering, M.M.E., 
has been given; this was given in 19 14. A list of 
each graduate with the degree he received and the 
year of his graduation is given in Appendix X. 

Only four honorary degrees have been conferred : 
In 1882 the honorary degree of Civil Engineer was 
conferred upon Charles H. Fisher, Chief Engineer of 
the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad, 
who had been a student in the class of 1853, and 
also upon Luiz da R. Dias, Chief Engineer of the 
Bahia and Caribbean Railroad, Brazil, who had 



ALUMNI AND STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS 169 

been graduated in the class of i860 as a Topo- 
graphical Engineer. In 1884 the degree of Civil 
Engineer was also conferred upon William B. 
Cogswell, formerly of the class of 1852, the Chief 
Engineer and General Manager of the Solvay 
Process Company, of Syracuse, N. Y. At the same 
time the honorary degree of Doctor of Philosophy 
was given James C. Booth, Director of the United 
States Mint at Philadelphia, who in 1831 had been 
a student at the school and an assistant to the 
Senior Professor. 

The total number of students who have attended 
the Institute cannot be exactly determined though 
it approximates six thousand. 

Its reputation as a school of engineering is well 
known; its fame was early established. Its renown 
has not been due to its age, but to its methods of 
instruction, its rigid requirements for graduation 
and the work of its alumni. 

Its requirements for graduation may be indicated 
in a general way by finding the ratio of the gradu- 
ates in any class to the total number of students 
who have been members of it. Such ratios for 
every decade since the reorganization, beginning 
with i860, are as follows: for the class of i860 the 
percentage is 45.0, for 1870 it is 31.6, for 1880 it 
becomes 33.3, for 1890 it is 27.0, for 1900, 32.3, and 
for 1 9 10 it is 22.1. The highest ratio, 50.0 per 
cent, is found for the class of 1885. In the class of 
1874 it is 17.5 per cent, in that of 1896, 13.0, and 
in the class of 1914 it is 29.7 per cent. The average 
ratio for the last sixty years is 34.0 per cent. 



170 HISTORY OF RENSSELAER INSTITUTE 

The students have come from fifty of the States 
and Territories of the Union and from many foreign 
countries, including the Bahamas, Brazil, Canada, 
Chili, China, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, England, 
Germany, Honduras, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, 
New Brunswick, Nicaragua, Nova Scotia, Panama, 
Peru, Porto Rico, Republic of Colombia, Russia, 
Santo Domingo, Sandwich Islands, Spain, Turkey, 
and Venezuela. 

It is, however, to the work of its graduates that 
the reputation of the school is largely due. They 
have left an imprint in the history of the scientific 
development, constructive art, and material prog- 
ress of this and other countries which cannot be 
effaced. Their success has been marked not only 
in the profession of engineering and as scientific 
investigators but in business pursuits. It has been 
widespread. 

An appendix to the annual catalogue of the 
school contains the address and occupation of each 
one of the alumni. The living ones are at present 
at work in forty-nine of the States and Territories 
of the Union and in eighteen foreign countries. In 
1908 a pamphlet entitled "A Partial Record of the 
Work of the Graduates of the Rensselaer Poly- 
technic Institute" was compiled from the Annual 
Registers. It gives the names and positions of 
those of the alumni whose pursuits could be easily 
classified. Even in this particular it is neces- 
sarily incomplete, and no mention 'is made in it 
of many who have attained eminence in various 
callings. This partial list contains the names of 



ALUMNI AND STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS 171 

one hundred and nineteen (119) presidents, two 
hundred and eighty-one (281) vice-presidents, 
managers, and superintendents, and one hundred 
and sixty (160) chief engineers of railway com- 
panies, steel and iron works, bridge companies, 
water works, machine works, electric companies, 
mining companies, sewerage systems, canals, and 
other engineering constructions. It shows that 
they have helped to build and operate more than 
one hundred and sixty-two thousand (162,000) 
miles of the railroad systems of North America 
alone and that they have been connected as 
designers and constructors with nearly all the 
important bridge companies and many of the great 
bridges of the country. There is given also a list 
of seventy-nine who have been professors in our 
leading universities, colleges, and schools of science. 



CHAPTER XI 

FINANCES. PRESENT-DAY EQUIPMENT AND 
METHODS. STATISTICS OF STUDENTS 

For the first eighty years of its existence the 
school could be classed, financially, only among 
the poorer institutions of learning of the country. 
In its early days a considerable portion of the ex- 
pense of its maintenance was borne by the founder; 
during the first eight years he expended more than 
$22,000 in its support. Upon the removal to the 
Van der Heyden mansion, in 1834, he built a 
laboratory and rooms for study upon the new site, 
and he continued to assist the institution until his 
death in 1839. Its equipment at first was not 
great, though it compared favorably with that 
used for scientific purposes in the oldest and 
wealthiest colleges. In 1828 the collections and 
library were valued at $3,615 and the real estate 
at $1,348. The total value of its property was 
$5,009. The complete inventory made in 1846, 
after the removal to the Infant School lot, showed 
the total value of real estate, invested funds, 
library, and apparatus to be $15,851 and the 
debts to amount to $1,050. This value, though 
small, was not inconsiderable for schools of science 
at that period. 

172 



PRESENT-DAY EQUIPMENT AND METHODS 173 

In their endeavor to increase their facihties for 
instruction the authorities of the school at various 
times, during the first forty years of its existence, 
made appeals for aid to the legislature of the 
State. One such petition, signed by B. Franklin 
Greene, LeGrand B. Cannon, John B, Tibbits, and 
D. Thomas Vail, was presented shortly after the 
reorganization, and in the act making appropria- 
tions for general purposes, passed July lo, 1851, 
$3,000 was given to the Institute. To aid in re- 
building, after the fire of 1862, $10,000 was appro- 
priated April 23, 1863. Another memorial signed 
by all of the trustees and by Director Charles 
Drowne was presented in 1866. They asked for 
$50,000. This was not given, but by an act passed 
April 23, 1864, the State Palaeontologist was 
authorized to select from the duplicate fossils be- 
longing to the State, and present to the Institute, 
a collection as full and complete as could be made. 
The fossils were given and an appropriation of 
$15,000 was also made May 8, 1868. Again in 
1 86 1, by an act passed April 28, $3,750 was do- 
nated. These sums, together with the $744 re- 
ceived from the Regents between the years 1846 
and 1853, while the Institute was under their visi- 
tation as an academy, make the total amount of 
money received from the State, since the founda- 
tion of the school, $32,494. This is wholly incon- 
siderable when compared with the sums which have 
been received from the same source by other 
institutions. 

The Institute continued its struggle for increased 



174 HISTORY OF RENSSELAER INSTITUTE 

endowment, and as the years rolled on its assets 
continued slowly to increase. The gift of the 
Proudfit Observatory in 1875, the work of the 
Graduates' Endowment Committee of 1882-4, the 
endowment of the chair of Mechanics by Mrs. 
Hart, in 1883, the efforts to raise a gymnasium 
fund in 1885-6 followed by the erection of the 
gymnasium on Broadway and the construction of 
the Alumni Building, following the collection of the 
Alumni Building fund of 1890, have already been 
recorded. Neither of the last two funds was suf- 
ficient to erect the building, and the Board of Trus- 
tees had to make appropriations to complete them. 
The Gymnasium fund amounted to $7,900, about 
half the cost of the building, and the Alumni Build- 
ing fund to $21,200. The Alumni Association, 
however, continued making remittances to the 
trustees until they had paid the entire cost of the 
building. An "Alumni Endowment Fund" was 
begun in 1896 and continued for about two years. 
The amount raised was $32,700. The "Mechani- 
cal Laboratory Fund" of 1899-1901 secured $48,- 
500, and a "Repair Fund" in 1902 amounted to 
$4,700. A table in Appendix VII gives the assets 
of the school for each year from 1902 to date. In 
1904 the total property amounted to $580,000. 
The assets for the year 1904 are given because this 
was the year of the fires in the Main Building and 
Chemical Laboratory, which were followed by the 
purchase of more land and the erection of the new 
buildings; the beginning of a new era for the school. 
After the fires, all the friends of the school worked 




PRESENT-DAY EQUIPMENT AND METHODS 175 

hard to place it upon a more secure basis. A " Re- 
building Fund" was started, which by May i, 1905, 
amounted to $147,900; the gifts for the year ending 
on this date amounted to $523,450, and the gifts 
for the two years ending May i, 1907, amounted to 
$1,083,545. Mrs. R. J. C. Walker, whose son, Dr. 
William Weightman Walker, was graduated in the 
class of '86, gave, in September, 1904, as a memo- 
rial to him, the sum of $100,000, which was fol- 
lowed in April, 1905, by another gift of $110,000. 
She had some years before this given $10,000, so 
that the Institute received from her $220,000. 
The gifts of J. J. Albright, '68, Andrew Carnegie, 
and Mrs. Sage have already been mentioned. One 
alumijus who does not wish his name mentioned 
gave, within a period of eight years, $275,000, part 
of this being subscriptions to building funds. 
Washington A. Roebling, '57, gave $26,000, and 
$10,000 more was given by Charles G. Roebling, 
'71, and John A. Roebling, '88; all members of a 
family celebrated in the engineering annals of the 
country. Invidious distinction is not meant by the 
mention of these gifts of particular individuals, but 
special circumstances where, for instance, gifts have 
been made for specific purposes render it advisable 
in order to make the information given more exact. 
Many other graduates and friends of the school 
gave large sums and many more smaller sums 
w^hich evinced as much self-denial and interest in 
their Alma Mater as any which have been men- 
tioned. The sudden death of Athol M. Miller, Jr., 
'95, of Duluth, Minn., occurred February 16, 1912. 



176 HISTORY OF RENSSELAER INSTITUTE 

He was a young man of unusual ability, energy and 
promise. At his expressed wish his stock in the 
Incas Iron Company, one hundred and thirty- 
eight shares altogether, was given to the Institute. 
This stock represents part of a lease in an iron 
mine which has nine years yet to run. Its value 
cannot be exactly determined, but it is probably 
worth from $150,000 to $200,000. It is a curious 
circumstance that, with this exception, no property 
has been left to the school by any of its graduates 
during the ninety years of its existence. They 
have given liberally at times, but not by bequest. 
Since 1872 five sums have been received by be- 
quests from citizens of Troy: $15,000 from Gen. 
John A. Wool, $10,000 from A. B. Filer, $10,000 
from Joseph M. Warren, $3,500 from John I. 
Thompson, and $5,000 from Richard F. Hall. 
Although not exactly a bequest, the sum of $10,000 
was given, in 1913, by Mrs. George B. Cluett, in 
accordance with the desire of her husband expressed 
before his death. Mr. Cluett had been a Trustee 
and had given during his lifetime sums aggregating 
$6,500 to the school. 

Another citizen of Troy, Thomas W. Holmes, 
who died this year (1914), left $50,000 to the Insti- 
tute, but this will not be received until next 
year. 

The table in Appendix VII shows that, in 19 14, 
the value of the grounds and buildings and their 
contents is $1,505,100, and that tKe investments 
and cash amount to $1,347,400, a total of $2,852,- 
500. The Incas stock is only valued at par, $6,900, 





u 



H 



J 



Ph 



CM 




Compression Machine. Capacity, 1,200,000 Pounds 



^1 '''Wn ^1 1 11 11 I^H 







Torsion Machine. Capacity, 125,000 Inch Pounds 



PRESENT-DAY EQUIPMENT AND METHODS 177 

in this estimate, so that the total assets are prob- 
ably more than $3,000,000. 

At the present time the school owns thirteen 
buildings. Three of them, the Alumni Building, 
now vacant and to be sold, the old Gymnasium, 
now rented to the Troy Academy, and the old 
Chemical Laboratory, now used as the shop for 
the summer courses in Mechanical Engineering, 
are not on the main campus. All of the others are 
on the largest plot of land and all were built 
between 1906 and 19 12. Four of these, the Car- 
negie Building, Walker Laboratory, Proudfit Lab- 
oratory and the Russell Sage Laboratory, are used 
only for purposes of instruction, and the Pittsburgh 
Building is used for instruction in geology and min- 
eralogy, though the library and offices of adminis- 
tration take up the greater part of the space in it. 
The remaining buildings are the '87 Gymnasium, 
the Club House, the Dormitory, the Boiler House, 
and a small one-story building on Avenue B, near 
the boiler house, about 40 by 20 feet in size, built 
in 191 1, of the same brick and trimmings as the 
other buildings, used as a carpenter shop. There 
is a wooden grand-stand and two bleachers on the 
athletic field and a hockey rink on the ground 
owned by the Institute and separated from the 
main campus by Avenue B. The various buildings 
and their contents have been completely described 
in preceding pages. 

The scholastic year is divided into two terms, 
the first beginning about the middle of September, 
and the second about the first of February. The 



178 HISTORY OF RENSSELAER INSTITUTE 

latter ends with Commencement about the middle 
of June. The Christmas vacation lasts about ten 
days, and the mid-term vacation, in February, 
about a week. Each term is divided into three 
periods, the advance, the review, and the exami- 
nation. The advance, during which the student 
takes up a subject for the first time, lasts about 
fifteen weeks, the review about three, and the ex- 
amination period is about one week in duration. 
In the review no new subject is studied, but those 
taken during the advance are repeated. During 
both the advance and review, when a subject is 
once taken up, it is continued until it is finished. 
Recitations are held on consecutive days until the 
course is ended. The methods of instruction are 
similar to those in vogue shortly after the reorgani- 
zation. Text-books are largely used, though these 
are almost invariably supplemented by lectures. 
Sometimes the recitations consist of interrogations 
only, but generally both interrogation and black- 
board work are required every day. 

Recitations generally take place on five days of 
the week only, Saturday being free; but this day 
has often to be devoted to making up work in 
drawing and other subjects, and during the review 
and examination periods it has often, also, to be 
used for recitations. 

In nearly every class and every subject each 
student recites each day. This is thought to be a 
matter of prime importance. The sections are 
small. For instance, in the department of pure 
mathematics they generally number from fifteen 



PRESENT-DAY EQUIPMENT AND METHODS 179 

to eighteen. The recitations in this department 
are one hour and a quarter in length, the first 
twenty minutes being devoted to interrogation and 
explanation and the remainder of the time to parts 
of the text and examples which are placed upon the 
blackboard by the students. In the department of 
Rational and Technical Mechanics, the class is 
divided into sections of about thirty, and each sec- 
tion, after a combined lecture and thorough inter- 
rogation by the professor in charge, is divided into 
smaller sections of about fifteen each, and these go 
to an assistant for a recitation on certain selected 
parts of the subject. The assistant requires each 
student each day to put one of these parts of the 
text or an example on the blackboard and explain 
it. During this explanation he is interrogated upon 
the principles involved. This method is followed 
in most of the subjects found in the curriculums, 
though in some subjects, such as theoretical chem- 
istry and physics, experimental lectures are given 
not accompanied by an interrogation and this is 
followed by interrogation and blackboard work. 

Daily marks are kept of the work of each student 
and in general the averages of the three periods are 
taken to determine whether he has passed in a 
subject. He. would be conditioned, however, if his 
examination mark were poor, and no matter how 
good his examination might be he would not be 
passed with poor work in the advance and review 
periods. In other words, cramming is useless; the 
results depend principally on the daily work 
throughout the term. The marks range from zero 



180 HISTORY OF RENSSELAER INSTITUTE 

to four, and three, or seventy-five per cent, is tiie 
passing mark. 

The laboratories are used to illustrate the prin- 
ciples taught in the corresponding courses; the 
daily periods for undergraduates are from two and 
a half to three hours in duration. Original re- 
searches are also made in them by instructors and 
by some undergraduate and graduate students for 
their theses. 

Much drafting of various kinds is given in all of 
the courses during the first two years, and design 
courses, which require drafting, are given in some 
of them during the last years. The drawing 
courses, like the laboratory courses, are generally 
about two hours and a half in duration. The prac- 
tical surveying, not done during the summer va- 
cations, is generally scheduled for the afternoon 
and takes about three hours each day while the 
courses last. In fact, drafting, laboratory work 
and practical surveying are regarded as "scholastic 
amusements," to use the term employed by Amos 
Eaton in his circular of September 14, 1826, and 
are scheduled for the afternoons where possible, 
while the theoretic subjects are given in the morn- 
ing whenever the program can be so arranged. 

Beside the work which occurs between Septem- 
ber 15 and June 15, in the Civil Engineering de- 
partment, students who have completed the work 
of Division C take a three weeks' course in Topo- 
graphical and Hydrographical Surveying, during 
June and part of July, in the country within fifty 
miles of Troy, and those who have completed the 




PRESENT-DAY EQUIPMENT AND METHODS 181 

work of Division B take a course of the same 
length in Railroad Engineering practice during a 
part of August and September. Students in the 
Mechanical and Electrical Engineering depart- 
ments, at the end of the same years, take four 
weeks' courses in shopwork, including machine and 
pattern work, during the summer vacations. In 
all of these summer courses the student is employed 
eight hours a day for six days in the week. 

During the same vacation each student in each 
course is required to write a thesis on some engi- 
neering subject approved by the Faculty. As here- 
tofore explained, in describing the Macdonald 
prize, a graduating thesis, also, must be prepared 
by each candidate for a degree and this must be 
read and defended before the Faculty. The latter 
covers a very wide range of subjects and are either 
designs or investigations of an engineering or sci- 
entific nature. A number of them are presented 
each year for the Macdonald prize and four of them 
have been printed in the Engineering and Science 
Series 

The first term of Division D of all the five courses 
is the same, and the second term is nearly the same, 
though more chemistry is given in the General 
Science and Chemical Engineering courses than in 
the others. The first term of Division C is also 
nearly the same for all, but thereafter a divergence 
begins which becomes more marked with each 
succeeding term. In general, the first two years 
are preparatory years and in the last two most of 
the practical and applied subjects are given. The 



182 HISTORY OF RENSSELAER INSTITUTE 

General Science course differs more from the en- 
gineering courses than they do from each other, 
and the Chemical Engineering course differs more 
from the other three engineering courses than they 
do from one another. In the narrative of the estab- 
lishment of the courses in Mechanical and Electri- 
cal Engineering given in preceding pages of this 
history the amount of divergence of these courses 
from the Civil Engineering course is given as a 
percentage of the time given to instruction during 
the advance period and is shown not to be great, 
and the divergence of the Mechanical from the 
Electrical course is shown to be still less. In fact, 
the intention was to make all of the engineering 
courses general in their character, with many of 
the principles and applications of each common to 
all. All of the curriculums are constantly being 
changed and improved in some particular. The 
schedules of the various courses, as they exist to- 
day, are given in Appendix II. 

Athletic exercise, either in the gymnasium or on 
the athletic field, is compulsory, at present, only 
for members of Division D. The schedule is so 
arranged that this exercise comes at the end either 
of the morning or afternoon recitations. 

Table I in Appendix VIII gives the total number 
of students, the number catalogued in Division D, 
and the number graduated in each year from 1863 
to the present time. The number catalogued in 
Division D is considerably larger than the number 
of new students each year, since any member of 
Division C with a condition, no matter how small, 



PRESENT-DAY EQUIPMENT AND METHODS 183 

is catalogued in Division D. The number of new 
students last year was 194 and this year 210. The 
table shows that the largest number of students was 
here in 1908-9. This was due to the fact that the 
entrance requirements were then lower and notice 
was given that they would be materially raised 
the next year. The great increase since the year 
1900 is noticeable. Table II in the same appendix 
shows the distribution of students in the various 
courses in 19 14, and Table III shows the number 
graduated in each department for the four years 
ending in 19 14. The first classes in mechanical and 
electrical engineering were graduated in 191 1. 
Students now in the Institute come from thirty- 
eight of the States and Territories and from twelve 
foreign countries. About sixty per cent, of them 
come from the State of New York. Table IV in 
the appendix shows the increase in the number of 
teachers since 1904. In the latter year the ratio of 
the number of students to teachers was eighteen. 
It is now ten. 

A complete list of all teachers of all grades from 
1824 to 1914 inclusive, with the dates of their ser- 
vice, is given in Appendix IX. The same appendix 
contains the names and dates of services of all the 
trustees and their officers since the foundation of 
the school, and Appendix X gives the name, de- 
gree received, and date of graduation of each 
alumnus. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 

All the more important publications and records, 
known to the writer, relating to the school from the 
time of its foundation to the present date are given 
in the following list. More or less use has been 
made of most of them in collecting the information 
given in this history. 

Minutes of the Board of Trustees, 1 824-1 849, and 1862- 
1914. 

Laws of the State of New York: 1826, Chapter 83; 1832, 
Chapter 327; 1835, Chapter 254; 1837, Chapter 351; 
1850, Chapter 49; 1851, Chapter 498; 1861, Chapter 
151; 1863, Chapter 210; 1864, Chapter 320; 1866, 
Chapter 229; 1868, Chapter 717; 1871, Chapter 869; 
1887, Chapter 277; 1898, Chapter 483; and 1907, Chap- 
ter 14. 

The Constitution and Laws of Rensselaer School, in Troy, 
N. Y.; adopted by the Board of Trustees, March 11, 

1825. Troy, printed by Tuttle & Richards, 1825. 
8vo, 23 pp. 

Preparation Branch recently established at Rensselaer 

School. September 14, 1826. 

This consists of a single sheet, and is published in full 

in Chapter IV. 
Constitution and Laws of Rensselaer School, in Troy, N. Y. ; 

adopted by the Board of Trustees April 3, 1826; together 

with a Catalogue of Officers and Students. Albany, 

1826. 8vo, 28 pp. 

Rensselaer School Exercises in the Fall, Winter and Spring 
Terms, including those of the Preparation and District 
Branches. Published under the Direction and Authority 

185 



186 BIBLIOGRAPHY 

of the Board of Trustees by the Senior Professor. June 
27, 1827. 

This forms pages 29 to 48 of the pamphlet dated April 
3, 1826, above mentioned. 

Triennial Catalogue of the Officers and Members of Rensse- 
laer School, Troy, N. Y., 1828. 8vo, 15 pp. 

To Graduates of Colleges and Teachers of Academies and of 
Common Schools. October 29, 1828. 4to, i p. 

Rensselaer School extended. September 23, 1829. 4to, 
I p. 

Rensselaer School Flotilla for the Summer of 1830. Janu- 
ary 28, 1830. 8vo, 6 pp. 

Exercises of Rensselaer School, with an Account of its Ori- 
gin and Characteristics. Also a Catalogue of Officers 
and Students, 1831. 8vo, 24 pp. 

Rensselaer School Notices for the Eighth Annual Course of 
Instruction, 1831 and 1832. 8vo, 4 pp. 

Rensselaer Institute, Troy, N. Y., Notices for the Ninth 
Annual Course, 1832 and 1833. 8vo, 4 pp. 

A Digest of the Laws and Rules of Exercise and Discipline 
in Rensselaer Institute. With a Triennial Catalogue. 
1833. 8vo, 40 pp. 

Synopsis of the Mathematical Course of Instruction at Rens- 
selaer Institute from November 19, 1834, to February 
II, 1835. 4to, I p. 

Notices of Rensselaer Institute, Troy, N. Y. October 14, 
1835. 8vo, 4 pp. 
This is printed in full in Chapter VI. 

Periodical Notices of Rensselaer Institute. To Engineers, 
Geologists, Chemists, Naturalists, etc. 1838 and 1839. 
8vo, 8 pp. 

Rensselaer Institute, 35th Semi-annual Session for 1 841-2. 
8vo, 8 pp. 

Rensselaer Institute, 37th Semi-annual S.ession for 1842-3. 
8vo, 8 pp. 

Catalogues for the years 1844, 1845, 1846, 1847, and 1849. 

Announcement of the Fifty-second Semi-annual Session of 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 187 

the Polytechnic Institution at the City of Troy. April 
15, 1850. 4to, 4 pp. 

Programme, etc., of the Rensselaer Institute: a Polytechnic 
Institution at the City of Troy, N. Y. February i, 1851. 
8vo, 8 pp. 

To the Legislature of the State of New York. Svo, 8 pp. 
This is a memorial signed by a committee composed 
of B. Franklin Greene, Le Grand B. Cannon, John B. 

• Tibbits and D. Thomas Vail. 

Annual Registers of the Institute, dated as follows: August, 
1851; October, 1852; August, 1854; August, 1855; 
March, 1857; May, 1858; 1859; August, 1859; i860; No- 
vember, i860; July, 1861; July, 1862; November, 1862; 
July, 1863; 1863-64, First Term; 1863-64, Second Term; 
July, 1864; 1864-65, First Term; July, 1865; Novem- 
ber, 1865; July, 1866; October, 1866; July, 1867; De- 
cember, 1867; July, 1868; November, 1868; July, 1869; 
December, 1869; April, 1870; July, 1870; July, 1871; 
June, 1872; September, 1872; December, 1872; July, 
1873; December, 1873; May, 1874; July, 1874; July, 
1875; November, 1875; August, 1876; February, 1877; 
July, 1877; 1877-78; July, 1878; April, 1879; November, 
1879; June, 1880; November, 1880; July, 1881; Janu- 
ary, 1882; November, 1882; February, 1883; October, 
1883; April, 1884; February, 1885; July, 1885; June, 
1886; July, 1886; January, 1887; November, 1887; May, 
1888; May, 1889; November, 1889; June, 1890; 1891; 
March, 1892; April, 1893; March, 1894; May, 1895; 
1896; April, 1897; March, 1898; Second Edition, 1898; 
March, 1899; 1900; November, 1900; April, 1901. 

In March, 1902, the Register was issued as Vol. i. No. i, 
of the quarterly Bulletins pubHshed from this time on- 
ward;* three supplements to No' i; No. 2, describing 
the Electrical courses; No. 3, a Handbook;* No. 4, 
Laboratories;* the March, 1903, Bulletin, Vol. 2, No. I, 
was called the Catalogue, the name Register being no 

* See page 160. 



188 BIBLIOGRAPHY 

longer used; No. 2, Commencement;* No. 3, Handbook; 
No. 4, Laboratories; Vol. 3, 1904, No. i, Catalogue; 
No. 2, Commencement; No. 3, Handbook; No. 4, Labor- 
atories; Vol. 4, 1905, No. I, Catalogue; No. 2, Com- 
mencement; No. 3, Photographic Reproductions of 
Work of Graduates;* No. 4, Laboratories; Vol. 5, 1906, 
No. I, Catalogue; No. 2, Commencement; No. 3, Hand- 
book; No. 4, Buildings and Laboratories; Vol. 6, 1907, 
No. I, Catalogue; No. 2, Dedication of Carnegie Build- 
ing; No. 3, Photographic Reproductions;* No. 4, Build- 
ings and Laboratories; Vol. 7, 1908, No. i, Catalogue; 
No. 2, Commencement; No. 3, Partial Record of Work 
of Graduates;* No. 4, Buildings and Laboratories; Vol. 
8, 1909, No. I, Catalogue; No. 2, Opening of the Rus- 
sell Sage Laboratory; No. 3, Handbook; No. 4, Williams 
Proudfit Laboratory; Vol. 9, 1910, No. i, Catalogue; 
Extra to No. i, Photographic Reproductions; No. 2, 
Commencement; No. 3, Handbook; No. 4, Laboratories; 
Vol. 10, 191 1, No, I, Catalogue; No. 2, Commence- 
ment; No. 3, Handbook; No. 4, General Information, 
Curriculums, Illustrations;* Vol. 11, 1912, No. i, Cat- 
alogue; No. 2, General Information, Curriculums, Il- 
lustrations; Extra to No. 2, Presentation of the Pitts- 
burgh Building; No. 3, Handbook; No. 4, Presentation 
of the '87 Gymnasium; Vol. 12, 1913, No. i. Catalogue; 
Extra to No. i, General Information; Supplement to 
No. I, Graduate Work; No. 2, Photographic Repro- 
ductions; Supplement to No. 2, Chemical Engineering; 
No. 3, Laboratories; No. 4, General Information; Vol. 
13, 1914, No. I, Catalogue; No. 2, Commencement. 

Report of the Committee appointed by a Public Meeting of 
the Citizens of Troy, on the Subject of Certain Proposed 
Improvements of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. 
January 21, 1854. 8vo, 4 pp. Signed by Thomas W. 
Blatchford, J. M. Warren and John A. Griswold. 

The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute: Its Reorganization in 

* See page i6o. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 189 

1849-50; Its Condition at the Present Time; Its Plans 
and Hopes for the Future. By the Director of the Insti- 
tute. Also, the Statement of a Committee, appointed 
by and of the Trustees of the Institute, for the Presenta- 
tion of its Various Interests to the Citizens of Troy. 
May 10, 1856. 8vo, 87 pp. 

The first part, written by B. Franklin Greene, includes 
80 pages of the pamphlet ; the statement of the committee 
and table of contents take up the remainder. The 
committee was composed of Hiram Slocum, John A. 
Griswold, Joseph M. Warren, Jonathan Edwards, 
Thomas C. Brinsmade, John B. Tibbits, Jonathan E. 
Whipple and B. Franklin Greene. 

The "Transit," an annual issued under the auspices of the 
Fraternities. Volumes i to 49, extending from 1865 to 
1914. 

Memorial of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, 
N, Y., to the Legislature of the State of New York, 1866. 
8vo, 8 pp. 

This was signed by all the members of the board of 
trustees and by Director Charles Drowne. 

Report of a Committee of the Trustees of the Rensselaer 
Polytechnic Institute concerning the System of Instruc- 
tion, with Proposed Modifications. 1870. 4to, 43 pp. 
E. Thompson Gale, Alexander L. HoUey and Clarence 
E. Dutton, committee. 

Papers relating to the Organization and to the First Regular 
Meeting of the Association of Graduates of the Rensse- 
laer Polytechnic Institute, held at Troy, N. Y., June 22 
and 23, 1869. 1870. 8vo, 24 pp. 

History of the Winslow Laboratory. By Henry B. Nason. 
June 15, 1874. 8vo, 13 pp. 

Proceedings of the Semi-centennial Celebration of the 
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, N. Y., held June 
14-18, 1874, with Catalogue of Officers and Students, 
1824-1874. 1875. 8vo, 223 pp. 
This was edited by Henry B. Nason. 



190 BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Meeting of Alumni in New York, February i8, 1881. Pro- 
ceedings of the First Reunion of Graduates. 1881. 
8vo, 30 pp. 

The "Polytechnic," a publication issued by the students of 
the Institute each month during the scholastic year. 
February, 1885, to date (1914). 

Biographical Record of the Officers and Graduates of the 
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 1 824-1 886. By Henry 
B. Nason. 1887. 8vo, 614 pp. 

Distant Examinations for Admission. Report of Alumni 
Committee and Petition to Board of Trustees. January, 
1888. 8vo, 23 pp. Warren T. Kellogg, De Volson Wood, 
S. W. Barker, Richard P. Rothwell, P. H. Baermann, 
A. P. Boiler and I. A. Stearns, committee. 

Central R. P. I. Association. Constitution and By-laws. 
Edgar B. Kay, Secretary, February, 1888. 8vo, 8 pp. 

Rensselaer Society of Engineers. List of Members, 1892. 
8vo, 23 pp. 

A Partial Record of the Work of Graduates of the Rensse- 
laer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, N. Y. 1892. 8vo, 27 
pp. 

The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, N. Y., Founded 
1824. Handbook of Information. 1893. 8vo, 23 pp. 

The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, N. Y., Founded 
1824. Handbook of Information. 1895. 8vo, 36 pp. 
Also, 1897, 8vo, 40 pp. 

A Partial Record of the Work of Graduates of the Rensselaer 
Polytechnic Institute, Troy, N. Y., 1895. 8vo, 28 pp. 
Also, 1899. 8vo, 26 pp. 

"Boletin del Institute Politecnico de Rensselaer. Informa- 
cion General. Cursos. Vistas." Troy, N. Y., U.S.A., 
1911. 8vo, 40 pp. 

Proposed New Gymnasium for the Rensselaer Polytechnic 
Institute, Troy, N. Y., December, 19.10. 8vo, 8 pp. 

The Reports of the President to the Board of Trustees from 
May, 1901, to May, 1914, inclusive. 



APPENDIX I 

'List of Subjects for Examination 

(1836) 

See Page 87. 

1. Extract the square root. Illustrate by diagram. 

2. Find by the square root the length of a ladder placed 
against a wall 37 feet high, its bottom being 9 feet from the 
wall. 

3. Demonstrate this application of the square root by 
trigonometry. 

4. Find the distance across a river without instruments, 
by calculating a base frustrum of an isosceles triangle, point- 
ing the apex to an object on the opposite shore. 

5. Explain the legs and hypothenuse of a right-angled 
triangle within a circle ; also with the vertical leg outside the 
circle. 

6. Explain, by the rule of three, the proportion between 
the sides and angles of triangles. In this sines must be 
used as measures of degrees in working with degrees. 

7. Illustrate the table of natural sines by a diagram. 

8. Explain parallax generally. 

9. Apply trigonometry to finding the moon's distance by 
its horizontal parallax. 

10. Apply trigonometry to finding the sun's distance by 
the transit of Venus. 

11. Apply the root and sines only in finding the height of 
a mountain, when the distance between the station and 
foot of the mountain is known, and angle at the base of the 
mountain between horizontal line and slant of hill. 

12. Apply trigonometry to finding the length of a per- 

191 



192 APPENDIX I 

pendlcular of a right-angled triangle, the base and sum of 
the perpendicular and hypothenuse being given. 

13. Scale and dividers with all the lines on the scale. 

14. Explain carpenter's sliding rule, 

15. Explain sector and its use in perspective drawing. 

16. Explain pantograph. 

17. Explain spirit levels. 

18. Glass thermometer and common ditto. 

19. Explain barometer. 

20. Hydrometer. 

21. Explain hygrometer. 

22. Explain quadrant, circular and quarter circle. 

23. Explain sextant. 

24. Pluviometer applied to rain and snow. 

25. Compass, surveyors and navigators. 

26. Chains and tallies, and why 9 stakes and 7 tallies 
are preferable. 

27. Explain harbor surveying. 

28. Illustrate the manner of working a traverse by sea 
or land. 

29. Traverse about a field; calculate the same by trape- 
zoidal method. 

30. Calculate the length of a degree of longitude at any 
degree of latitude. 

31. Explain Mercator's chart. 

32. Take the latitude of any place. 

33. Take the longitude of any place. 

34. Calculate the height of the atmosphere. 

35. Calculate the pressure of the atmosphere upon any 
given surface on the earth by the barometer, say on a square 
yard. 

36. Calculate the height of the lower valve of a pump 
at a given place by the barometer. 

37. Cast the solid contents of a cone. 

38. Cast the transverse diameter made by cutting an 
ellipse through the given frustrum of a cone. 

39. Finish out a cone from a given frustrum. 




Cement-Mixing Laboratory 




Interior View, Chemical Laboratory 




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APPENDIX I 193 

40. Calculate a cask by assuming each end as a frustrum 
of a cone, without allowing for curvature. 

41. Allowing for curvature, also the addition to the 
bung diameter of one tenth of the difference between bung 
and head. 

42. Explain the method of calculating the angles of in- 
flection in running a curve on a railroad when run on the 
periphery. 

43. Explain the same when run by chord lines from one 
station. 

44. Explain the method for calculating offsets from a 
chord line for fixing given equal points on a regular curve. 

45. Show the method of calculating the quantity of 
water per second furnished by a running stream. Describe 
the best method for ascertaining the average velocity in a 
deep stream. 

46. Illustrate contraction of the vein of water from an 
aperture. 

47. Show that the velocity of effusions of apertures is 
increased as the square root of the height is increased; 
taking 4 feet head giving 16.2 feet velocity per second, 
calculations may be made almost accurately. 

48. Apply formula for determining the velocity and 
cubic feet of effusion per second under a given head. 

49. Apply formula for determining the velocity and cubic 
feet under a given head through given cylinder waterworks. 

50. Apply formula for calculating the velocity in open 
raceways and canals. 

51. Apply formula for calculating the velocity and quan- 
tity of water pitching over a waste weir or dam. 

52. Calculate excavations for canals. 

53. Calculate embankments, dykes, docks, etc. 

Qualifications demanded of students of Civil Engineering 
in 1838-9. See page 88. 

I. He must be familiar with the use of the level and 



194 APPENDIX I 

compass in laying out roads, McAdam roads, railroads, 
canals, etc. 

2. He must be perfectly familiar with running courses, 
staking - out, and calculating for excavations and 
embankments. 

3. He must be familiar with casting and constructing 
tables of versed sines; also the principles on which tables 
of natural sines are calculated, constructed, and used. 

4. He must be familiar by practice with the calculations 
for filling and emptying locks, the supply of water by weight 
and measure which any stream will afford per second as a 
feeder, or for any hydraulic purpose. 

5. He must be perfectly familiar with taking specific 
gravity of materials for construction. 

6. He must be familiar by practice in calculating the 
power which any stream of water will give per second in 
propelling mills, factories, or other machinery, by measur- 
ing a trunk of it, and its descents. 

7. He must be familiar by practice in calculating for 
waterworks whether conveyed in pipes, boxes, or open 
raceways. 

8. He must be familiar with statics and dynamics, 
hydrostatics and hydrodynamics, so far as respects applica- 
tion to flumes, undershots and overshots, and descending 
raceways ; also the velocities and efflcient powers of spouting 
fluids, applied to driving machinery. 

9. He must be familiar with the calculations of the 
quantity of grain ground by the rubbing areas of mill- 
stones, per minute or second. 

10. He must be familiar with calculating the height of 
the atmosphere (as far as density will reflect), and its 
pressure on liquids in cases of pumps, and in all other cases 
where its pressure influences mechanical operations. 

11. He must be familiar with casting the heights of 
nimbose clouds by lightning, also of the cirrose and cirro- 
cumulose by two stations, when the fitting of lightning 
rods, etc., are concerned. 



APPENDIX I 195 

12. He must be perfectly familiar with taking and cal- 
culating latitude by the sun, moon, and north star. 

13. He must be familiar with taking longitude by lunar 
observations, by eclipses of the sun and moon, and by 
eclipses of Jupiter's satellites. 

14. He must be perfectly familiar with taking the heights 
of hills and mountains with the barometer and thermometer, 
also in taking extemporaneous surveys and profiles with 
the barometer and triangular spans. 

15. He must be quaHfied by practice to fix a transit line 
whenever required. 

16. He must be qualified by practice to determine the 
variation of the needle at any time and place, very 
nearly. 

17. He must be qualified by practice to make a topo- 
graphical survey of a State, county, etc., by fixing a base 
line, on the ice of a lake, river, or a natural plane of earth, 
also to extend surveys from the base line to the required 
points, by triangular spans. 

18. He must be qualified to change spherical areas of 
large districts, taken by latitude and longitude, into 
rectangular areas, by Mercator's method. 

19. He must be a practical land surveyor, in theory 
and practice. 

20. He must be a practical geologist, so far as to be able 
to make a correct report of the rocky and earthy deposits 
through which he lays out a canal, railroad, etc., also so 
far as to enable him to judge of inorganic materials for 
construction. 

21. He must be so far a botanist and botanical physiolo- 
gist as to be able to judge of timber, earthy mould, etc., 
which (having once been organized) are subject to chemical 
decomposition — consequently dissolution. 

22. He must be so far versed in architecture as to be 
enabled to direct the construction of bridges and other 
works of engineering, in a comely style. 

23. He must be so far familiar in plotting and business 



196 APPENDIX II 

drafting as to perform all ordinary operations required in 
engineering. The most finished perspective and other 
ornamental drawings are not required of the engineer, but 
are very desirable. 



APPENDIX II 

Schedule of the Course in Civil Engineering 

(1854) 

FIRST YEAR 
First Term 

Mathematics Algebra — Geometry. 

General Physics Molecular Forces — Thermotics. 

Graphics Geometrical Drawing: Elementary Draw- 
ing. 

Geodesy Line Surveying: Theory (Commenced); 

Field Work. 

English Composition The Course (Commenced). 

French Language The Course: French Grammar. 

Second Term 

Mathematics Trigonometry — Higher Algebra. 

General Chemistry Non-metallic Chemistry. 

Graphics " Topographical Drawing: General Topog- 
raphy; Maps of Farm Surveys. 

Geodesy Line Surveying: Theory (Finished); Of- 
fice Work. 

Natural History Botany. 

English Composition The Course (Continued). 

French Language The Course : Translations from French 

into English. 

SECOND YEAR 
First Term . 

Mathematics Analytical Geometry' — Differential Cal- 
culus. 
General Physics Electricity. 



APPENDIX II 197 

General Chemistry Metallic Chemistry. 

Natural History Mineralogy. 

Graphics Descriptive Geometry: General Theory — 

Geometrical Drawing : A rchitectural 
Drawing. 

Geodesy Practical Trigonometry. 

English Composition The Course (Continued). 

French Language The Course: Reading from French Sci- 
entific Authors. 

German Language The Course: German Grammar. 

Second Term 

Mathematics ' Integral Calculus. 

General Physics Acoustics — Optics. 

Natural History Zoology. 

Geology and Physical Ge- 
ography Geology. 

Graphics Descriptive Geometry: Shades and Shad- 
ows — Geometrical Drawing: Machine 
Drawing. 

Geodesy Topographical Surveying — Hydrograph- 

ical Sur\'eying. 

English Composition The Course (Continued). 

German Language The Course: Translations from German 

into English. 

THIRD YEAR 
First Term 

Mechanics Mechanics of Solids — Mechanics of Fluids. 

Practical Astronomy The Course (Commenced). 

Physical Geography The Course. 

Practical Geology The Course. 

Geodesy Trigonometrical Surveying. 

Graphics Descriptive Geometry: Perspective; I so- 
metrical Projection — Topographical 
Drawing: Maps of Trigonometrical 
Surveys. 

Machines Theory of Machines. 

Industrial Physics Practical Pneumatics — Practical Ther- 

motics. 

Philosophy of Mind The Course (Commenced). 

English Composition The Course (Finished). 



198 APPENDIX II 

Second Term 

Constructions Theory of Structures — General Construc- 
tions — Bridges — Hydraulic Works — 
Railways. 

Machines Prime Movers — Special Machines. 

Mining The Course. 

Practical Astronomy The Course (Finished). 

Geodesy Railway Surveying — Mine Surveying. 

Graphics Descriptive Geometry: Stone Cutting— 

Topographical Drawing: Maps, etc., of 
Railway Surveys; Plans, etc., of Mine 
Surveys. 

Metallurgy General Metallurgy — Metallurgy of Iron. 

Industrial Physics Architectural Physics. 

Philosophy of Mind The Course (Finished). 

Schedule of the Course in Natural SciENCfe 

(1854) 

FIRST YEAR 
The course for the first year is the same as that in Civil Engineering, 

SECOND YEAR 
First Term 

General Physics Electricity. 

General Chemistry Metallic Chemistry. 

Natural History Mineralogy. 

Geology and Physical Geog- 
raphy Physical Geography. 

Practical Geology The Course. 

Graphics Geometrical Drawing: Architectural. 

Industrial Physics Practical Pneumatics — Practical Ther- 

motics. 

Philosophy of Mind The Course (Commenced). 

English Composition The Course (Finished). 

French Language The Course: Reading French Scientific 

Authors. 
German Language The Course : German Grammar. 

Second Term 

Natural History Zoology. 

Geology and Physical Geog- 
, raphy Geology. 



APPENDIX II 199 

General Chemistry Organic Chemistry. 

Natural History AppHed to 

the Arts The Course. 

General Physics Acoustics — Optics. 

Industrial Physics Architectural Physics. 

Philosophy of Mind The Course (Finished). 

German Language The Course: Translations from German 

into English. 



Schedule of the Two Last Years of the 
Course in Mining Engineering 

(1866) 

division b 

First Term 

Mathematics Differential Calculus — Integral Calculus 

— Method of Least Squares. 

Physics Electricity : Terrestrial Magnetism; Stati- 
cal and Dynamical Electricity. 

Chemistry Qualitative Analysis: Behavior of bases 

and acids with reagents. 

Natural History Mineralogy. 

German Language German Grammar — English Translations. 

Geodesy Practical Trigonometry — Levelling — 

Topographical Surveying. 

Geometrical Drawing Machine Drawing: Elements of Machines. 

Topographical Drawing. . . . Maps of Topographical Surveys. 

Second Term 

Rational Mechanics Mechanics of Solids — Mechanics of 

Fluids. 

Descriptive Geometry Linear Perspective. 

Physics Acoustics and Optics. 

Chemistry Qualitative Analysis. 

Natural History Mineralogy — Geology — Zoology — Palae- 
ontology. 

German Language English Translations. 

Geometrical Drawing Perspective. 

Topographical Drawing. . . . Colored Topography. 



200 APPENDIX II 

DIVISION A 

First Term 

Physical Mechanics Mechanics of Solids: Friction; Strength 

of Materials. Mechanics of Fluids: 
Practical Hydraulics; Practical Pneu- 
matics. 

Machines Theory of Machines. 

Descriptive Geometry Stone Cutting. 

Chemistry Qualitative Analysis — Metallurgy. 

Natural History Mineralogy — Geology. 

Philosophy Intellectual Philosophy. 

Geometrical Drawing Stone Cutting. 

Second Term 

Machines Theory of Prime Movers : Steam Engine. 

Designs for and Reviews of Special 
Machines. 

Chemistry Quantitative Analysis — Metallurgy — As- 
saying. 

Geodesy Mine Surveying. 

Practical Mining Sinking and Driving — Ventilation and 

Drainage — General Management. 

Philosophy Ethical Philosophy. 

Schedule of the Course in Civil 
Engineering 

(1914) 

FIRST YEAR 

First Term Second Term 

Chemistry, Theory. Trigonometry. 

Chemistry, Lectures. Analytical Geometry, Plane. 

Algebra. Mensuration. 

French. French. 

Projections, Theory. Surveying, Theory. 

Projections, Drawing. Surveying, Practice. 

Freehand Drawing. Topographica-l Drawing. 

Elements of Drawing. Mechanical Drawing. 
Lettering. 

A Thesis must be written during the Summer Vacation. 



APPENDIX II 



201 



SECOND YEAR 



First Term 
Analytical Geometry, Solid. 
Differential Calculus. 
Integral Calculus. 
Surveying, Theory. 
Surveying, Practice. 
Chemistry, Qualitative Analysis. 
English Language. 



Second Term 



Descriptive Geometry, Theory. 
Descriptive Geometry, Drawing. 
Shades and Shadows, Theory. 
Shades and Shadows, Drawing. 
Perspective, Theory. 
Perspective, Drawing. 
Surveying, Theory. 
Chemistry, Qualitative Analysis. 
Physics. 

Freehand Drawing, 
during the Summer Vacation. 

A three weeks' course in Topographical and Hydrographical Surveying 
is required during June and July. 



A Thesis must be written 



THIRD YEAR 



First Term 



Second Term 



Surveying, Practice. 

Geodesy. 

Electricity, Theory. 

Electricity, Laboratory Work. 

Steam Engineering. 

Mechanics, Rational. 

Highways. 

Stone Cutting, Theory. 

Stone Cutting, Drawing. 

Botany. 

Map Drawing. 

Physics, Laboratory Work. 

A Thesis must be written during the Summer Vacation. 

A three weeks' course in Railroad Engineering practice is required 
during August and September. 



Mechanics, Rational. 
Structures. 

Resistance of Materials. 
Descriptive Astronomy. 
Railroad Curves, Theory. 
Metallurgy. 
Mineralogy. 
Assaying. 

Materials Testing, Laboratory 
Work. 



FOURTH YEAR 



First Term 
Hydraulics. 
Sewerage. 
Bridges and Roofs. 
Spherical Astronomy. 
Practical Astronomy. 



Second Term 
Hydraulics. 
Hydraulic Motors. 
Bridge Design. 
Electrical Laboratory Work. 
Mechanical Laboratory Work. 



202 



APPENDIX II 
FOURTH YEAR {Continued) 



First Term 
Railroad Engineering. 
Electrodynamics. 



Second Term 
Thermodynamics. 
Machine Construction, Theory. 
Machine Construction, Drawing, 
Geology. 

Law of Contracts. 
A Graduating Thesis must be presented. 



Schedule of the Course in Mechanical 
Engineering 

(1914) 



first year 



First Term 
Chemistry, Theory. 
Chemistry, Lectures. 
Algebra. 
French. 

Projections, Theory. 
Projections, Drawing. 
Freehand Drawing. 
Elements of Drawing. 
Lettering. 



Second Term 
Trigonometry. 
Analytical Geometry, Plane. 
Mensuration. 
French. 

Surveying, Theory. 
Surveying, Practice. 
Mechanical Drawing. 
Steam Engineering. 
Physics. 



A Thesis must be written during the Summer Vacation. 
Four weeks' Shop Work is required during the Summer Vacation. 



SECOND YEAR 



First Term 



Second Term 



Analytical Geometry, Solid. 
Differential Calculus. 
Integral Calculus. 
Chemistry, Qualitative Analysis 
English Language. 
Electricity, Theory. 
Electrical Laboratory Work. 



Descriptive Geometry, Theory. 
Descriptive Geometry, Drawing. 
Chemistry, Qualitative Analysis. 
Physics, Theory. 
Physics, Laboratory. 
Machine Drawing. 
Kinematics^ 
Electrical Laboratory Work. 
A Thesis must be written during the Summer Vacation. 

Fotir weeks' Shop Work is required during the Summer Vacation. 



APPENDIX II 



203 



THIRD YEAR 



First Term 
Thermodynamics. 
Mechanical Laboratory. 
Graphics of Machines. 
Mechanics, Rational. 
Boilers. 
Direct Current Electric Machines, 

Theory. 
Direct Current Electric Machines, 

Laboratory Work. 
Botany. 

A Thesis must be written 



Second Term 

Mechanics, Rational. 

Heat Engines. 

Structures. 

Resistance of Materials. 

Alternating Current Electric Ma- 
chines, Theory. 

Alternating Current Electric Ma- 
chines, Laboratory Work. 

Metallurgy. 

during the Summer Vacation 



FOURTH 
First Term 

Boiler Design. 

Steam Engine and Steam Turbine 
Design. 

Ventilation, Heating and Refrig- 
eration. 

Hydraulics, Theory. 

Hydraulic Machinery. 

Mechanical Laboratory. 

Transmission and Distribution of 
Electricity, Theory. 

Alternating Current Electric Ma- 
chines, Laboratory. 

Metallurgy. 

Marine Engineering and Naval 
Architecture. 

A Graduating Thesis 



YEAR 

Second Term 
Hydraulic Motors. 
Pumping Machinery. 
Steam Engine and Steam Tur- 
bine Design. 
Central Stations. 
Machine Design. 
Contracts. 

Gas and Oil Engine Design. 
Office Work. 
Mechanical Laboratory. 
Descriptive Astronomy. 
Law of Contracts. 



must be presented. 



Schedule of the Course in Electrical 
Engineering 

(1914) 
first year 



First Term 
Chemistry, Theory. 
Chemistry, Lectures. 
Algebra. 
French. 



Second Term 
Trigonometry. 
Analytical Geometry, Plane. 
Mensuration. 
French. 



204 



APPENDIX II 



FIRST YEAR 



First Term 
Projections, Theory. 
Projections, Drawing. 
Freehand Drawing. 
Elements of Drawing. 
Lettering. 



{Continued) 

Second Term 
Surveying, Theory. 
Surveying, Practice. 
Mechanical Drawing. 
Steam Engineering. 
Physics. 



A Thesis must be written during the Summer Vacation. 
Four weeks' Shop Work is required during the Summer Vacation. 

SECOND YEAR 



First Term 
Analytical Geometry, Solid. 
Differential Calculus. 
Integral Calculus. 
Chemistry, Qualitative Analysis, 
Electricity, Theory. 
Electricity, Laboratory Work. 
English Language. 



Second Term 
Physics, Theory. 
Physics, Laboratory Work. 
Electricity, Laboratory Work. 
Descriptive Geometry, Theory. 
Descriptive Geometry, Drawing. 
Chemistry, Qualitative Analysis. 
Machine Drawing. 
Kinematics. 
A Thesis must be written during the Summer Vacation. 
Four weeks' Shop Work is required during the Summer Vacation. 

THIRD YEAR 



First Term 
Direct Current Electric Machines, 

Theory. 
Direct Current Electric Machines, 

Laboratory Work. 
Direct Current Electric Machines, 

Design. 
Mechanics, Rational. 
Thermodynamics. 
Boilers. 
Electrical Measurements. 

A Thesis must be written 



Second Term 

Alternating Current Electric Ma- 
chines, Theory. 

Alternating Current Electric Ma- 
chines, Laboratory Work. 

Mechanics, Rational. 

Resistance of Materials. 

Structures. 

Heat Engines. 

Metallurgy. 

during the Summer Vacation. 



First Term 

Alternating Current Electric Ma^ 
chines, Laboratory Work. 

Alternating Current Electric Ma- 
chines, Design. 



FOURTH YEAR 

Second Term 
Transmission and Distribution of 

Electricity, Design. 
Electric Railway and Lighting 

Systems, Design. 



ft 



APPENDIX 11 



205 



FOURTH YEAR {Continued) 



First Term 
Transmission and Distribution of 

Electricity, Theory. 
Electric Railway and Lighting 

Systems, Theory. 
Electrochemistry, Theory. 
Electrochemistry, Laboratory. 
Railroad Location. 
Hydraulics. 
Mechanical Laboratory. 



Second Term 

Electric Railway and Lighting 
Systems, Laboratory. 

Transmission and Distribution of 
Electricity, Laboratory. 

Telephones and Telegraphy. 

Materials of Electrical Engineer- 
ing. 

Electromagnetics, Theory. 

Central Stations, Theory. 

Central Stations, Design. 

Law of Contracts. 



A Graduating Thesis must be presented. 



Schedule of the Course in Chemical 

Engineering 

(1914) 

FIRST YEAR 



First Term 
Chemistry, Theory. 
Chemistry, Lectures. 
Algebra. 
French. 

Projections, Theory. 
Projections, Drawing. 
Freehand Drawing. 
Elements of Drawing. 
Lettering. 

A Thesis must be written during the Summer Vacation. 

SECOND YEAR 



Second Term 
Chemistry, Qualitative Analysis, 
Trigonometry 

Analytical Geometry, Plane. 
Mensuration. 
French. 
Physics. 



First Term 
Chemistry, Quantitative Analysis. 
Analytical Geometry, Solid. 
Differential Calculus. 
Integral Calculus. 
Electricity. 
English Language. 



Second Term 
Chemistry, Quantitative Analy- 
sis. 
Chemistry, Advanced Inorganic. 
Physics. 

Physical Measurements. 
Physical Laboratory Work. 
Electrical Measurements. 



A Thesis must be written during the Summer Vacation. 



206 



APPENDIX II 



THIRD YEAR 



First Term 

Chemistry, Organic, Theory. 

Chemistry, Organic, Laboratory 
Work. 

Gas and Fuel Analysis. 

Direct Current Electrical Ma- 
chines, Theory. 

Direct Current Electrical Ma- 
chines, Laboratory Work. 

Mechanics, Rational. 

Metallurgy. 



Second Term 
Chemistry, Physical. 
Thermodynamics. 
Mechanics, Rational. 
Structures. 

Resistance of Materials. 
Materials Testing, Laboratory 

Work. 
Mineralogy. 



A Thesis must be written during the Summer Vacation. 



FOURTH 
First Term 
Chemistry, Industrial. 
Electrochemistry, Theory. 
Electrochemistry, Laboratory Work. 
Steam Engines. 
Hydraulics. 
Water Analysis. 
Microscopy. 



YEAR 

Second Term 
Alternating Current Electrical 

Machines, Design. 
Alternating Current Electrical 

Machines, Laboratory Work. 
Central Stations, Mechanical 

Equipment. 
Central Stations, Electrical 

Equipment. 
Machine Construction, Theory. 
Machine Construction, Drawing. 
Mechanical Laboratory. 
Water Supply. 
Assaying. 
Law of Contracts. 
A Graduating Thesis must be presented. 

Schedule of the Course in General 
Science 

(1914) 



First Term 
Chemistry, Theory. 
Algebra. 
French. 

Projections, Theory. 
Projections, Drawing. 



FIRST YEAR 

Second Term 
Trigonometry. 
Analytical Geometry, Plane. 
Mensuration. 
French. 
Chemistry, Qualitative Analysis. 



APPENDIX II 



207 



FIRST YEAR {Continued) 
First Term Second Term 

Freehand Drawing. 
Elements of Drawing. 
Lettering. 

A Thesis must be written during the Summer Vacation. 

SECOND YEAR 



First Term 
Analytical Geometry, Solid. 
Differential Calculus. 
Integral Calculus. 
English. 

Electricity, Theory. 
Chemistry, Quantitative Analysis, 

Theory, 
Chemistry, Quantitative Analysis, 

Laboratory, 



Second Term 

Physics, Theory. 

Physical Laboratory and Elec- 
trical Measurements. 

Chemistry, Quantitative Analy- 
sis, Theory. 

Chemistry, Quantitative Analy- 
sis, Laboratory. 

Advanced Inorganic Chemistry, 
Recitations. 

Advanced Inorganic Chemistry, 
Lectures. 
A Thesis must be written during the Summer Vacation. 

THIRD YEAR 



First Term 

Organic Chemistry, Theory. 

Organic Chemistry, Laboratory 
Work. 

Direct Current Electrical Ma- 
chines, Theory. 

Direct Current Electrical Machines, 
Laboratory. 

Gas and Fuel Analysis. 



Second Term 

Physical Chemical Laboratory 
Work. 

Chemistry, Industrial, Non- 
metallic. 

Alternating Current Electrical 
Machines, Theory. 

Alternating Current Electrical 
Machines, Laboratory, 

Metallurgy, 

Mineralogy. 



A Thesis must be written during the Summer Vacation. 
FOURTH YEAR 



First Term 
Microscopy. 
Water Analysis. 
Electrochemistry, Theory. 
Electrochemistry, Laboratory. 
Chemistry, Industrial. 
Chemistry, Organic, Laboratory. 
Direct Current Electrical Machines. 



Second Term 
Steam Engines. 

Mechanical Laboratory Work. 
Thermodynamics. 
Geology. 
Assaying. 



A Graduating Thesis must be presented. 



208 APPENDIX III 



APPENDIX III 

Names of the Grand Marshals since the Foundation of 
the Office. There were no Grand Marshals for the Classes 
'91, '92, '93, and '94. 

*Albert M. Harper, '66, A$; *Frank J. Hearne, '67, A*; 
Virgil G. Bogue, '68, AKE; *John Pierpont, '69, AKE; 
Thomas O'N. Morris, '70, A$; George C. MacGregor, '71, 
Z^; David Reeves, '72, A<l>; Daniel A. Tompkins, '73; 
James N. Caldwell, '74, R.S.E.; *William L. Fox, '75, A$, 
Morris S. Verner, '76, Z^; *Coddington Billings, Jr., 'jy, 
R.S.E.; George S. Davison, '78; *Robert R. Bridgers, '79, 
R.S.E.; *FrederickS. Young, '80, A<S>; Thomas D. Whistler, 
'81, A$; Independence Grove, '82, X$; Robert J. Pratt, 
'83, R.S.E. ; William A. Aycrigg, '84, X$; Leverett S. Miller, 
'85, A*; Edward B. Ashby, '86, Z^; fjames B. Larrowe, 
'86, eS; *Halsey B. Pomeroy, '87, R.S.E. ; James M. Africa, 
'88, AKE; Paul O. Hebert, '89, ATA; William Easby, Jr., 
'90; *Athol M. Miller, '95, A<i>; Henry B. Voorhees, '96, 
AKE; Charles J. McDonough, '97, GAX; Thomas R. Law- 
son, '98, eS; Gustav A. Keller, '99, R.S.E.; Parley L. Wil- 
liams, '00, X$; James W. Davis, '01, D.K.E.; William H. 
Young, '02, X$; Edward W. Banker, '03, A$; Homer G. 
Whitmore, '04, R.S.E.; Cuyler W. Lush, '05; William S, 
Lozier, '06, R.S.E.; Herman S. Chalfant, '07, A<l>; Horace 
W. Rinearson, '08, R.S.E.; Robert A. Searle, '09, AKE; 
Carl W. Schedler, '10, R.S.E.; James T. Ganson, '11, AKE; 
Frank B. Watkins, '12, R.S.E.; Edward D. P. Gross, '13, 
A$; Philip C. Rummel, Jr., '14 R.S.E.; Glenn W. Tisdale, 
'15, AKE. 



* Deceased. 

fLeft the Institute before graduation. 






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H^JI^^ %^- %JF 



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APPENDIX IV 209 

APPENDIX IV 

DESCRIPTION OF THE LABORATORIES IN THE 
SAGE BUILDING 

Mechanical Laboratories 

The Mechanical Laboratory is divided into several parts: 
the steam, hydraulic, internal combustion and fan and 
blower laboratories, beside a number of smaller ones for 
experiments in heating and ventilation, the testing of oils 
and fuels, the standardization of instruments and the test- 
ing of apparatus. 

The steam laboratory contains a cross-compound Corliss 
engine, especially built for investigation, a two-stage air 
compressor, a vertical high-speed compound engine, three 
modern high-speed single cylinder engines, and three steam 
turbines. Each engine unit has its own condenser 
and the condensers are equipped with different types of air 
pumps. There are direct steam-driven air and circulating 
pumps and valveless air pumps of the Edwards design and 
the Mullen design. A Foster superheater is connected to 
the turbines, but this is so installed that it may be moved 
to any part of the laboratory and used with other units. 
The Corliss engine is so arranged that the cranks may be 
set at different angles and the strokes of the two sides may 
be varied, thus changing the volume ratio of the two cyl- 
inders from I : 3 to I : 7. In addition, the high pressure 
steam and exhaust chests are so divided that the two ends of 
the engine may be operated independently and the steam 
condensed in separate condensers. The condensers of this 
engine have a dry-air pump to illustrate this type of con- 
denser equipment. All these machines, as well as others 
sent to the laboratory for investigation, may be moved by 
travelling cranes provided for this purpose. 

The hydraulic laboratory contains pumps, turbines and 
apparatus for determining the losses in machines and water- 
carrying devices, for calibrating instruments and for the 



210 APPENDIX IV 

measurement of water. The pump equipment includes a 
simplex steam pump, a i,ooo gallon per minute tank pump, 
a compound steam-driven duplex pump for high pressure 
service and for duty tests, and, in addition to these, there 
are three centrifugal pumps of one, two and three stages 
respectively, a rotary pump, a triplex pump and a pulso- 
meter. The centrifugal, triplex and rotary pumps are 
motor-driven, each motor being equipped with ammeters 
and voltmeters so that the power used may be ascertained. 
The hydraulic motors are represented by a Francis turbine 
of Leffel make, and three impulse wheels of the Doble, 
Pelton and Escher-Wyss varieties. These wheels are 
arranged so that the quantity of water may be measured 
by calibrated nozzles, weirs, or by Venturi meters. The 
calibration of these pieces of apparatus may be carried out 
in the laboratory. Air tanks are used to steady the dis- 
charge from the various pumps and a small motor-driven 
air-compressor is used to furnish the air. There is also a 
flume, with chronograph and standard clock, for testing 
current meters and ship models, and facilities for testing 
Pitot tubes and water meters are also provided. 

The internal combustion and refrigeration laboratory is 
equipped with four gas engines and two kerosene engines, 
two hot air engines and a two-ton refrigerating and ice- 
making plant. The gas engines are of different types. 
One operates on produced gas and is connected to a suction 
producer, one is operated on illuminating gas while the 
other two may operate on gas or gasolene. The two ker- 
osene engines illustrate this form of internal combustion 
engine. The hot air engines of the Ericsson and Ryder- 
Ericsson types are installed to show how these machines 
are constructed. The refrigerating plant contains a steam- 
driven ammonia compressor with a two-pipe condenser and 
a three-pipe brine cooler ^nd the refrigerating room may be 
cooled by direct expansion or by brine. 

The fan laboratory is equipped with rotary blowers, 
exhausters, pressure fans, and a two-stage fan as well as a 



APPENDIX IV 211 

ventilator. These are all motor-driven and so arranged 
that the power input may be determined. The trans- 
mission laboratory contains transmission dynamometers 
and absorption brakes to determine the efficiency of rope 
and belt transmission; also a hydraulic ram and apparatus 
for testing injectors. On the same floor there is a small 
Corliss engine and a small slide valve engine for practice in 
valve setting, an instrument room for indicators, gauges, 
and other instruments and a machine shop equipped with 
machine-driven tools. 

There are a number of small rooms, used for testing 
various materials of engineering and the calibration of 
instruments, on the first floor of the building above the two 
laboratory floors. The hoist room is equipped for testing 
various forms of hoists and jacks; the heating and ventila- 
tion room with direct and indirect radiators and a fan; the 
anemometer and tachometer room and the gauge and 
indicator room each with special devices to test the ap- 
paratus contained in it and the oil and fuel room with a 
coefficient of friction oil testing machine, viscosimeters, 
flash and chill point apparatus, Elliott, Hempel, and Orsat 
gas apparatus, Junker and Mahler calorimeters, balances, 
chemical apparatus, ovens and other apparatus for deter- 
mining the physical and chemical properties of fuels and oils. 
A standard room contains high grade apparatus for use in 
the laboratory or for comparison. 

Electrical and Physical Laboratories 

The Electrical laboratories obtain both direct and 
alternating current from the mains of the Troy Electric 
Light Company, a total of 150 kilowatts being available 
from this source. The alternating current is supplied at 
2,400 volts, two phase, 40 cycles and is transformed to 200 
volts by six subway type transformers. The laboratories 
contain the necessary ballistic and aperiodic galvanometers, 
bridges, standard cells, condensers, resistance coils, indue- 



212 APPENDIX IV 

tion coils, ammeters, voltmeters, and wattmeters, as well as 
various types of Wheatstone bridges, galvanometers, con- 
densers, a complete set of Reichsanstalt standard resistances, 
a Du Bois magnetic balance, conductivity bridges, a cable 
testing set, potentiometers, and standards of self-induction. 

There is also a generator plant equipped with two 25 
kilowatt -no volt direct-connected generators, one of which 
is driven by a Cross compound marine type engine and the 
other by a Curtis steam turbine. In addition to these 
generators there are two 25 kilowatt synchronous motor 
driven no volt generators for supplying direct current, 
two 25 kilowatt motor generator sets supplying 3 phase 
current, one at 60 cycles and the other at 25 cycles, a 15 
kilowatt induction motor driven exciter set with a Tirrell 
regulator, a 25 kilowatt three unit set consisting of an 
induction motor connected to two low voltage direct 
current generators supplying for electrolytic and standard- 
ization purposes 3,000 amperes at 8 volts or 1,500 amperes 
at 16 volts, and a 30 ampere mercury arc rectifier. 

The battery room contains 66 cells, each of 120 ampere 
hours' capacity, and four cells, each of 4,000 ampere hours' 
capacity. Three rooms are used for work in electro- 
chemistry. The equipment includes a 50 kilowatt Heroult 
furnace and a 10 kilowatt induction furnace of the Colby- 
Kjellin type, an experimental Arsem furnace and an 
Acheson furnace. 

The dynamo room is devoted to the testing of generators 
and motors. The machines are of great variety and include 
one Edison 3 kilowatt no volt direct current generator, one 
Western Electric 5 kilowatt direct current generator, two 
6 kilowatt Allis Chalmers direct-current generators, one 
Crocker Wheeler dynamotor for electrolytic work, one 
General Electric 7.5 kilowatt three phase alternator, one 
General Electric 7.5 kilowatt two phase alternator with 
motor-driven exciter, and two lo-kilowatt Westinghouse 
550 volt rotary converters. In addition to several small 
motors the equipment includes an electric railway motor 



APPENDIX IV 213 

testing set consisting of two 25 horse-power 550 volt motors 
mounted on an interurban track, with friction wheels, fly- 
wheels, water brakes, and traction dynamometer, air- and 
hand-brakes and a full equipment of instruments for a 
complete series of tests; two Westinghouse 10 horse-power 
type K induction motors, one General Electric 7.5 horse- 
power type L induction motor, one General Electric 3 
horse-power single-phase induction motor, one Lincoln 7.5 
horse-power variable speed motor, one Electrodynamic 
Company's interpole variable speed motor, one Westing- 
house 7.5 horse-power no volt compound wound motor, 
and one General Electric 5 horse-power series motor. 

The instrument shop is used for the repair and con- 
struction of apparatus. The equipment includes a 14-inch 
Hendey lathe, a 15-inch Potter and Johnston shaper, a 
Dwight-Slate sensitive drill, a Northern Electric buffer, a 
gas-forge and an overhead travelling crane. All the 
tools are motor-driven. 

The equipment of the high tension room comprises two 
General Electric 5 kilowatt 2,200 volt static transformers, 
one General Electric constant current floating coil trans- 
former, two Westinghouse I kilowatt 2,200 volt static trans- 
formers, and two Westinghouse 10 kilowatt 10,000 volt 
transformers; also induction coils and other necessary appa- 
ratus for experiments in wireless telegraphy and X-rays. 

The large laboratory devoted to general physics, heat, 
and sound, adjoins the room used for the study of light. 
This room is so connected to the adjoining rooms for 
photometric measurements and electric design, that a 
photometer bench 140 feet long can be obtained for the 
measurement of powerful light sources. The photometer 
rooms are equipped with Reichsanstalt photometers and 
have all the necessary attachments for standardizing and 
measuring mean horizontal or mean spherical candle- 
power of arc and incandescent electric lights and other light 
sources. There is also a room for physical research and a 
large drawing room for electric design. 



214 APPENDIX V 

The laboratory contains also a cathetometer, dividing 
engine, astronomical clock, chronograph, standard baro- 
meters, five Becker and two Sartorius balances, special 
apparatus for measuring the modulus of elasticity, modulus 
of torsion, and coefficient of expansion, Barus calorimeter, 
Chatelier pyrometer, Hilger spectrometer; Zeiss spectro- 
meter, Rowland plane and concave gratings, Schmidt 
and Haensch polariscopes, Zeiss microscope. Abbe refracto- 
meter, and Michelson interferometer. 



APPENDIX V 

Names of the Successful Competitors for the 
Macdonald Prize 

Stacey E. Denny, C.E., 1891; *Elmer J. Bucknell, C.E., 
1892; Ralph H. Chambers, C.E., 1893; Paul L. Reed, C.E., 
1894; *Myron E. Evans, CE., 1895; Henry B. Voorhees, 
C.E., 1896; Howard W. Mesnard, C.E., 1897; James A. S. 
Redfield, C.E., 1898; Julius W. Pfau, C.E., 1899; John H. 
Campbell, C.E., 1900; Carl A. Bostrom, C.E., 1901 ; John W, 
Doty, C.E., 1902; C. W. Tillinghast Barker, C.E., 1903; 
Henry R. Beebe, C.E., 1904; Cuyler W. Lush, C.E., 1905; 
Jay A, Auringer, C.E., 1906; George M. Ward, C.E., 1907; 
Charles E. Reinicker, C.E., 1908; Byron V. Herden, C.E., 
1909; Tandy A. Bryson, C.E., 1910; Charles Jay Seibert, 
C.E., 191 1 ; Charles P. Rumpf, C.E., 1912; Ralph W. 
Hewes, CE., 1913. 

APPENDIX VI 

Presidents of the General Alumni Association 
Since its Organization at Troy, June 22,1869 

*James Hall, '32, 1869-71; ^Albert R. Fox, '30, 1871-73; 
^Strickland Kneass, '39, 1873-74; *William Gurley, '39, 
1874-78; *John G. Ambler, '33, 1878-79; *James P. Wallace, 

* Deceased. 



APPENDIX VII 



215 



'37) 1879-80; *Francis Collingwood, '55, 1880-81; Charles 
Macdonald, '57, 1881-83; *Charles C. Martin, '56, 1883- 
84; *Joseph M. Wilson, '58, 1884-85; *Joseph C. Piatt, '66, 
1885-86; David Reeves, '72, 1886-87; Theodore Voorhees, 
'69, 1887-88; *T. Guilford Smith, '61, 1888-89; *Christopher 
C. Waite, '64, 1889-90; John J. Albright, '68, 1890-91; 
*Clark Fisher, '58, 1891-92; William B. Cogswell, '51, 
1892-93; Theodore N. Ely, '66, 1893-94; *William Metcalf, 
'58, 1894-95; *William H. Doughty, '58, 1895-96; Joseph 
M. Knap, '58, 1896-98; ^Alexander J. Cassatt, '59, 1898-99; 
*Frederick Grinnell, '55, 1899-00; *Charles C. Martin, 
'56, 1900-01; Horace G. Young, 'yj, 1901-02; Washington 
A. Roebling, '57, 1902-03; Robert Forsyth, '69, 1903-04; 
Alfred H, Renshaw, '83, 1904-05; *Alfred P. Boiler, '61, 
1905-06; Morris R. Sherrerd, '86, 1906-07; William B. 
Ridgely, '79, 1907-08; Phihp W. Henry, '87, 1908-09; 
George S. Davison, '78, 1909-10; Calvin Pardee, '60, 1910-11; 
Thomas H. Walbridge, '76, 1911-12; Nelson P. Lewis,'79, 
1912-13; Charles Sooysmith, '76, 1913-14; Strickland L. 
Kneass, '80, 1914-. 



APPENDIX VII 

Total Assets for the Years 1902 to 19 14 
Inclusive 



Year 


Grounds, 

Buildings and 

Contents 


Investments 
and Cash 


Total Assets 


iqo2 


$240,000 

245,000 

280,000 

247,000 

383,500 

605,800 

697,000 

1,033,200 

1,153,000 

1,213,500 

1,322,600 

1,436,500 

1,505,100 


$248,000 

289,000 

300,000 

553,000 

632,800 

724,800 

1,612,100 

1,360,100 

1,393,100 

1,363,300 

1,359,400 

1,376,700 

1,347,400 


$488,000 

534,000 

580,000 

800,000 

1,016,300 

1,330,600 

2,309,100 

2,393,300 

2,546,100 

2,576,800 

2,682,000 


iqo^ 


1904 

1905 

1906 

1907 

1908 


1909 

1910 


IQII 


iqi2 


1913 

I914 


2,813,200 
12,852,500 



* Deceased. 



t See page 177. 



216 



APPENDIX VIII 



APPENDIX VIII 

Number of Students and Graduates for the 
Years i 863-1914 Inclusive 
table I 



Year 



Total Number 
of Students 


Number 

Catalogued 

in Division D 


Number 
of Students 
Graduated 


96 


46 


12 


130 


54 


6 


167 


59 


12 


155 


44 


17 


154 


42 


25 


147 


43 


22 


135 


45 


20 


145 


51 


20 


151 


53 


26 


178 


69 


17 


209 


83 


21 


181 


52 


II 


181 


56 


24 


186 


39 


32 


160 


41 


27 


160 


32 


33 


103 


24 


31 


104 


39 


18 


108 


38 


20 


172 


83 


18 


218 


73 


15 


233 


70 


23 


234 


40 


31 


164 


53 


48 


154 


53 


42 


164 


64 


31 


174 


54 


18 


189 


66 


19 


183 


72 


31 


206 


lOI 


34 


188 


88 


19 


165 


82 


37 


135 


61 


28 


137 


48 


14 


138 


57 


23 


143 


68 


27 


175 


91 


19 


225 


121 


21 


249 


114 • 


21 


314 


151 


21 


375 


207 


44 


387 


189 


53 


426 


203 


35 



1863 

1864 

1865 
1866 
1867 
1868 
1869 
1870 
I87I 
1872 
1873 
1874 
1875 
1876 
1877 
1878 
1879 

1880 
I88I 
1882 

1883 

1884 

1885 

1886 
1887 
1888 
1889 

1890 

1 891 
1892 

1893 
1894 

1895 

1896 

1897 

1898 
1899 

1900 
I90I 
1902 

1903 
1904 
1905 



APPENDIX VIII 
TABLE I {Continued) 



217 



Year 


Total Number 
of Students 


Number 

Catalogued 

in Division D 


Number 
of Students 
Graduated 


1906 

1907 

1908 

1909 

iqio 


485 
609 
667 
672 
655 
643 
620 
626 


242 

36 

367 

332 

247 

241 

253 

293 


42 
68 

57 
80 
56 
71 
118 


1911 


1912 


1913 

1914 


108 

87 



Distribution of stiidents in departments and classes in 
the year 1913-14. 

TABLE II 



Class 


C.E. 


M.E. 


E.E. 


Ch.E. 


B.S. 


Total 


A 


55 

63 

55 

135 


10 

14 
20 

64 


16 
17 
23 
67 



2 

I 
18 


3 

2 

2 

9 


84 

98 

lOI 


B 


C 


D 


293 




Total 


308 


108 


123 


21 


16 


576 



Special Students 48 

Graduate Students 2 



Total 626 



Number of graduates in the different departments in the 
years 1911-14, inclusive. 

TABLE III 



Year 



1911 . 
I912. 

1913- 
I914. 



C.E. 


M.E. 


59 


3 


96 


9 


72, 


16 


57 


10 



E.E. 



B.S. 



9 
13 

18 

17 



Total 



71 

118 
108 

*87 



* One graduate student took a masters' degree making the total number 88. 



218 



APPENDIX IX 



Number of students and teachers for the years 1904-14, 
inclusive. 

TABLE IV 



Catalogue of 


04 


OS 


06 


07 


08 


09 


10 


II 


12 


13 


14 


Professors. . 


10 


10 


10 


12 


12 


13 


15 


15 


15 


19 


19 


Asst. Profs. . 


3 


3 


3 


3 


3 


5 


4 


5 


5 


4 


5 


Instructors. 





2 


2 


I 


2 


3 


4 


4 


4 


24 


25 


Assistants. . 


6 


7 


10 


10 


19 


22 


26 


30 


33 


II 


9 


Temp.Assts. 


I 


I 


2 


3 


3 


4 

















Lecturers. . . 


I 


I 


I 


3 


3 


8 


7 


7 


6 


5 


5 


Teachers. . . 


21 


24 


28 


32 


42 


55 


56 


61 


63 


63 


63 


Students . . . 


375 


387 


426 


485 


609 


667 


672 


655 


643 


620 


626 


Ratio 


18 


16 


15 


15 


15 


12 


12 


II 


10 


10 


10 



APPENDIX IX 

Trustees and Instructors from 1824 to 19 14 
Inclusive 

* Indicates those known to be deceased. 

Trustees 

Patron 

* Hon. Stephen Van Rensselaer 1824-39 

Presidents 

* Rev. Samuel Blatchford, D.D 1824-28 

* Rev. John Chester, D.D 1828-29 

* Rev. Eliphalet Nott, D.D., LL.D 1829-45 

* Rev. Nathan S. S. Beman, D.D., LL.D 1845-65 

* Hon. John F. Winslow 1865-68 

* Thomas C. Brinsmade, M.D ". 1868-68 

* Hon. James Forsyth, LL.D 1868-86 

Hon. John Hudson Peck, LL.D 1888-01 

Palmer C. Ricketts, E.D., LL.D 1901- 



APPENDIX IX 219 

Vice-Presidents 

* Orville L. Holley, First Vice-President 1824-41 

* T. Romeyn Beck, M.D., Second Vice-President 1824-29 

* Hon. David Buel, Jr., Second Vice-President 1829-60 

* Rev. Nathan S. S. Beman, D.D., LL.D 1841-45 

* William P. Van Rensselaer 1845-65 

* Thomas C. Brinsmade, M.D 1865-68 

* Hon. George Gould 1868-68 

* E. Thompson Gale, C.E 1868-72 

* Hon. William Gurley, C.E 1872-87 

* Albert E. Powers 1887-00 

* William H. Doughty, C.E 1900-01 

Elias P. Mann, C.E 1901- 

Secretaries 

* Moses Hale, M.D 1824-37 

* Rev. Mark Tucker, D.D 1837-38 

* Rev. Erastus Hopkins 1838-41 

* Hon. Isaac McConihe, LL.D 1841-42 

* Hon. Joseph White, LL.D 1842-49 

* Stephen Wickes, M.D 1849-54 

* Rev. John B. Tibbits, A.M 1854-61 

* Hon. William Gurley, C.E 1861-71 

* William H. Doughty, C.E 1871-97 

John Squires, C.E 1897- 

Treasurers 

* Hon. Hanford N. Lockwood 1824-44 

* Thomas C. Brinsmade, M.D 1844-47 

* Hon. Day Otis Kellogg 1847-50 

* William H. Young 1850-01 

James H. Caldwell, B.S 1901-05 

Paul Cook, A.M 1905- 

Trustees 

* Rev. Samuel Blatchford, D.D 1824-28 

* Elias Parmelee, A.M 1824-34 

* Hon. John Cramer 1824-49 

* Hon. Guert Van Schoonhoven 1824-44 

* Hon. Simeon De Witt 1824-28 

* T. Romeyn Beck, M.D., LL.D 1824-28 

* Hon. John D. Dickinson, LL.D 1824-40 

* Jedediah Tracy , 1824-25 



220 



APPENDIX IX 



Trustees {Continued) 

* Hon. Richard P. Hart 1825-43 

* Gen. Nicholas F. Beck, A.M 1828-31 

* Judge Jesse Buel 1828-35 

* Philip S. Van Rensselaer, A.M 1833-43 

* Rev. Phineas L. Whipple 1833-37 

* Hon. George Tibbits, ex officio Mayor 1835-36 

* William D. Haight, " " Alderman 1835-36 

* John P. Cushman, " " Recorder 1835-38 

* James Wallace, " " Alderman 1836-38 

* Hon. Jonas C. Heartt, " " Mayor 1837-43 

* Elias Dorlon, " " Alderman 1838-39 

* H. W. Strong, " " Recorder 1838-44 

* Henry Everts, " " Alderman 1839-40 

* Livy S. Stearns, " " Alderman 1840-41 

* Henry Everts, " " Alderman 1841-42 

* Rev. W. B. Sprague, D.D 1841-44 

* John Holme 1841-56 

* Rev. Alva T. Twing, D.D 1841-67 

* Hon. David Buel, Jr 1842-44 

* Rev. Eliphalet Nott, D.D., LL.D 1842-45 

* Rev. Nathan S. S. Beman, D.D., LL.D 1842-65 

* Hon. Isaac McConihe, LL.D 1842-67 

* Daniel G. Egleston, ex officio Alderman 1842-44 

* Hon. Gurdon Corning, " " Mayor 1843-47 

* Abram B. Olin, LL.D., " " Recorder 1844-50 

* Jared S. Weed, " " Alderman 1844-45 

* Rev. Reuben Smith 1 844-47 

* Thomas C. Brinsmade, M.D 1844-68 

* William P. Van Rensselaer 1845-65 

* Luther Tucker 1845-49 

* Hon. Daniel D. Barnard, LL.D 1845-48 

* Stephen Bowman, ex officio Alderman 1845-47 

* James Dana, " " Alderman 1847-49 

* Hon. Francis N. Mann, A.M., " " Mayor 1847-50 

* Stephen Wickes, M.D 1847-54 

* W. T. Seymour 1848-49 

* Benjamin P. Johnson 1849-66 

* Alexander Van Rensselaer, M.D 1849-67 

* John Wilkinson 1849-55 

* Hon. Joseph M. Warren, A.M ! 1849-96 

* Le Grand B. Cannon 1849-64 

* Hiram Slocum 1849-60 

* Orsamus Eaton 1849-59 



APPENDIX IX 221 

Trustees {Continued) 

* Rev. John B. Tibbits, A.M 1849-67 

* Leonard McChesney, ex officio Alderman 1849-50 

* Amos Dean, LL.D 1849-53 

* D. Thomas Vail, A.M 1850-82 

* Hon. Joseph White, LL.D 1850-55 

* Hon. Day Otis Kellogg, ex officio Mayor 1850-50 

* Hon. Hanford N. Lockwood, " " Mayor 1850-51 

* Hon. George Gould 1852-53 

* Hon. Foster Bosworth 1853-53 

* Hon. Elias Plum 1853-54 

* Thomas W. Blatchford, M.D 1854-66 

* Hon. Jonathan Edwards 1854-67 

* Hon. John A. Griswold, ex officio Mayor 1855-56 

* B. Franklin Greene, C.E., A.M 1855-59 

* Hon. William Gurley, C.E 1855-87 

* Hon. Jonathan E. Whipple 1856-66 

* Hon. Hiram Slocum, ex officio Mayor 1856-57 

* Hon. Alfred Wotkyns, M.D., ex officio Mayor 1857-58 

* Hon. Arba Read, " " Mayor 1858-60 

* Hon. John F. Winslow 1860-68 

* E. Thompson Gale, C.E 1860-87 

* Hon. John A. Griswold 1860-72 

* Hon. Isaac McConihe, Jr., ex officio Mayor 1860-61 

* Hon. George B. Warren, Jr., " " Mayor 1861-62 

* William H. Young 1861-04 

* Hon. Lyman Wilder 1861-85 

* Hon. Arba Read 1861-63 

* Albert E. Powers 1S61-10 

* Rev. Peter Bullions, D.D 1862-64 

* Hon. James Thorn, M.D., ex officio Mayor 1862-63 

* Hon. William L. Van Alstyne, " " Mayor 1863-64 

* Hon. James Thorn, M.D., " " Mayor 1864-65 

* Rev. Duncan Kennedy, D.D 1864-67 

* Hon. Jonas C. Heartt 1864-74 

* Hon. George Gould 1864-68 

* David Cowee 1865-87 

* Alexander L. Holley, LL.D , 1865-66 

* Hon. Uri Gilbert, ex officio Mayor 1865-66 

* Frederick B. Leonard, M.D 1866-71 

* James S. Knowlson, A.M 1866-08 

* Hon. Uri Gilbert 1866-88 

* Hon. David A. Wells, LL.D., D.C.L 1866-76 

* Hon. John L. Flagg, ex officio Mayor 1866-68 



222 



APPENDIX IX 



Trustees (Continued) 

* Hon. Charles R. Ingalls 1868-02 

* Rev. Marvin R. Vincent, D.D 1867-69 

* William A. Shepard 1867-83 

* Hon. James Forsyth, LL.D 1867-86 

* Joseph W. Fuller 1867-89 

* Hon. William Kemp 1867-08 

* Hon. Francis S. Thayer 1868-80 

* Azro B. Morgan 1868-71 

* Hon. Miles Beach, ex officio Mayor 1868-70 

* Rev. J. Ireland Tucker, D.D 1868-95 

* Alexander L. Holley, LL.D 1869-82 

* Capt. Clarence E. Dutton, U. S. A 1869-76 

* Henry C. Lockwood 1871-90 

* William H. Doughty, C.E 1871-09 

* Hon. Thomas B. Carroll, ex officio Mayor 1871-73 

* Hon. Edward Murphy, Jr., " " " 1875-82 

* Rev. William Irvin, D.D 1876-09 

John D. Van Buren, Jr., C.E 1876-82 

Charles Macdonald, C.E., LL.D 1880- 

* James P. Wallace, C.E 1880-97 

* Joseph C. Piatt, Jr., C.E 1882-98 

Elias P. Mann, C.E 1882- 

* Hon. Edmund Fitzgerald, ex officio Mayor 1882-86 

* Hon. Dennis J. Whelan, " " " 1886-94 

Stephen W. Barker, C.E *. 1886-09 

* Henry B. Dauchy 1886-03 

* Henry G. Ludlow 1886-01 

Robert W. Hunt 1886- 

John H. Peck, LL.D 1887-01 

Theodore Voorhees, C.E 1887- 

Edward C. Gale, C.E 1887- 

John Squires, C.E 1888- 

Horace G. Young, C.E 1888- 

Paul Cook, A.M 1890- 

* Hon. Francis J. Molloy, ex officio Mayor 1894-00 

* Hon. Russell Sage 1896-06 

James H. Caldwell, B.S 1900- 

* George B. Cluett 1900-05 

* John I. Thompson 1900-01 

Hon. Daniel E. Conway, ex officio Mayor. . . .• 1901-03 

Palmer C. Ricketts, E.D., LL.D 1901- 

Alfred H. Renshaw, C.E 1901- 

George B. Wellington, A.M., C.E., LL.B 1903- 



APPENDIX IX 223 

Trustees {Continued) 

Stewart Johnston, C.E 1903- 

■ Edgar K. Betts 1903-08 

Gen. J. Ford Kent 1903- 

Hon. Joseph F. Hogan, ex officio Mayor 1904-05 

Robert Cluett 1906- 

Henry W. Hodge, C.E 1906- 

George S. Davison, C.E 1909- 

William F. Gurley, A.B 1909- 

William Bayard Van Rensselaer, A.B 1909-09 

Henry S. Ludlow, A.B 1909- 

Frederick F. Peabody 1909- 

William B. Cogswell, C.E 1911- 

Philip W. Henry, C.E 191 1- 

Herbert S. Ide, A.B 191 1- 

Hon. Cornelius F. Burns, ex officio Mayor 19 12- 



ExECUTivE Officers of the Faculty 

Senior Professors 

* Amos Eaton, A.M 1824-42 

* George H. Cook, C.E., B.N.S 1842-46 

* Charles Drowne, C.E., A.M 1859-60 

Directors 

* B. Franklin Greene, C.E., A.M 1847-59 

* Rev. N. S. S. Beman, D.D., LL.D 1859-60 

* Charles Drowne, C.E., A.M 1860-76 

William L. Adams, C.E 1876-78 

* David M. Greene, C.E 1878-91 

Palmer C. Ricketts, C.E., E.D., LL.D 1892- 



Professors, Instructors, and Assistants 

Astronomy 

* Charles Drowne, C.E., A.M., Professor 1850-54 

* Dascom Greene, C.E., " (Emeritus, 1893). . . . 1858-93 
Charles W. Crockett, C.E., A.M., LL.D 1893 — 

* Dascom Greene, C.E., Adjunct Professor 1856-58 

Palmer C. Ricketts, C.E., Assistant Professor 1882-84 

Charles W. Crockett, C.E., " " 1884-93 

Palmer C. Ricketts, C.E., Assistant 1875-82 



224 



APPENDIX IX 



Botany 

* Lewis C. Beck, M.D Professor 1824-29 

* John Wright, M.D., " 1836-46 

* Frederick B. Leonard, M.D., " 1846-48 

R. Halsted Ward, A.M., M.D., " 1869-92 

William W. Rousseau, C.E., Assistant Professor 1912- 

* Lewis G. Lowe, C.E., M.D. Lecturer 1855-56 

* Jose Tell Ferrao, B.S., Repeater 1850-51 

R. Halsted Ward, A.M., M.D., Instructor 1868-69 

Edward R. Gary, C.E., " 1892-04 

William W. Rousseau, G.E., " 1904-12 

Chemistry 

* Amos Eaton, A.M., Professor 1824-35 

* James Hall, A.M., LL.D., " 1835-41 

* George H. Cooke, C.E., B.N.S., " 1841-46 

* William Elderhorst, M.D., " 1855-61 

Charles A. Goessmann, Ph.D., " 1861-64 

* Henry B. Nason, Ph.D., LL.D., " 1864-94 

William P. Mason, C.E., M.D., LL.D., " 1886- 

Azariah T. Lincoln, M.S., Ph.D., " (Organic) 1912-13 

Azariah T. Lincoln, M.S., Ph.D., " (Physical) .... 1913- 

* William C. Bailey, B.N.S., Assistant Professor. . . . 1839-39 
William P. Mason, C.E., M.D., " " . . . . 1882-86 
Azariah T. Lincoln, M.S., Ph.D., " " .... 1908-12 
Frederick W. Schwartz, B.S., Ph.D., Assist. Prof. (Analytical) 1914- 
Jonathan R. Powell, C.E., Repeater 1847-48 

* Lewis G. Lowe, C.E., " 1849-50 

* Jose Tell Ferrao, B.S., " 1850-51 

* Dascom Greene, C.E., " 1852-53 

* James T. Allen, B.S., " 1854-55 

Elbert S. Piatt, B.S., Instructor 1912- 

Frederick W. Schwartz, B.S., Ph.D., " 1912-14 

John M. Nelson, Ph.D., " 1907-08 

Harold C. Chapin, M.A., " 1912-13 

Russell S. Howard, B.S., " 1912-14 

Matthieu Darmstadt, Ph.D., Assistant 1866-68 

Irving A. Stearns, M.E., " 1868-69 

* Edward Nichols, B.S., " 1871-73 

Alfred S. Bertolet, M.E., " 1873-75 

William P. Mason, C.E., " 1875-82 

Elbert S. Piatt, B.S., " 1899-02, 1911-12 

James M. Caird, " 1901-02 

Edmund Fales, " 1901-07 




Athletic Committee of the Rensselaer Union 





t f 






: ':.\_^-^ i; 


■^' '■ ' ' 


^^^^^^^P' ^' 


^^sHH^H^H^^^^^^^^H 



Student Council 




Board of Editors of the Polytechnic 




Glee Club 



APPENDIX IX 



225 



Frederick W. Schwartz, B.S., Assistant 1965-12 

Ralph H. Sherry, A.M., " 1907-09 

Johnson F. Hendry, B.S., " 1908-09 

Harold C. Chapin, M.A., ** 1909-12 

Alfred E. Blake, B.S., " 1910-11 

Russell S. Howard, B.S., " 1910-12 

Ellis B. Cooper, Ch.B., " 1913- 

Civil Engineering 

* Amos Eaton, A.M., Professor 1828-42 

* George H. Cook, C.E., B.N.S., " 1842-46 

* Charles Drowne, C.E., A.M., " 1859-60 

* William G. Lapham, C.E., Adjunct Professor 1838-39 

* George H. Cook, C.E., B.N.S., " " 1840-41 

Descriptive Geometry and Drawing 

G. Gustavus Berger, Professor. 1850-51 

* S. Edward Warren, C.E., " 1853-72 

Dwinel F. Thompson, B.S., " 1873- 

Edward F. Chillman, C.E., Associate Professor. . . . 1908- 

Dwinel F. Thompson, B.S., Assistant " .... 1872-73 

* Adolfo E. Besosa, C.E., " " 1880-82 

Edward F. Chillman, C. E., " " 1902-08 

David Hathaway, Instructor 1847-50 

* S. Edward Warren, C.E., " 1852-53 

Charles H. Andros, C. E., " 19 12- 

Charles H. Andros, C.E., Assistant 1907-12 

Albert H. Emery, C.E., " 1855-58 

William H. Powless, C.E., " 1875-76 

* Herman Voorhees, C.E., " 1877-78 

John A. L. Waddell, C.E., " 1878-80 

* Adolfo E. Besosa, C.E., " 1880-82 

Edgar B. Kay, C.E., " 1883-85 

Robert A. Cairns, C.E., " 1885-87 

James N. Ewing, C.E., " 1887-88 

Edward F. Chillman, C.E., " 1888-02 

Harry J. Deutschbein, C.E., " (Drawing). . . . 1905-07 

Frank J. Blair, Jr., C.E., " " 1908-09 

Electrochemistry 

Matthew A. Hunter, M.A., D.Sc, Professor 1912- 

Willis R. Whitney, Ph.D., Lecturer 1908-11 

Electrochemistry and Physics 

Matthew A. Hunter, M.A., D.Sc, Assistant Professor. . . . 1908-12 



226 



APPENDIX IX 



Electrical Engineering 

E. D. N. Schulte, M.A., E.E., Associate Professor. . . . 1909- 

Wynant, J. Williams, C.E., Instructor 1909-12 

J. S. Hodges, A.B., Assistant 1901-02 

E. D. N. Schulte, M.A., E.E., " 1902-04 

Caryl D. Haskins, Ph.D., Lecturer 1908-11 

Albert H. Armstrong, B.S., " 1908- 

Walter D. Ryan " 1912- 

Electrical Engineering and Physics 

Hugh McV. Anderson, C.E., Professor 1901-02 

William L. Robb, Ph.D., LL.D., " 1902- 

E. D. N. Schulte, M.A., E.E., Assistant Professor. . . . 1906-09 

E. D. N. Schulte, M.A., E.E., Instructor 1904-06 

John W. Bacon, E.E., " I9i3~ 

Edward Y. Rice, E.E., " 1913-14 

Edward J. K. Mason, A.M., Assistant 1904-06 

Wynant J. Williams, C.E., " 1906-09 

Harold S. Beers, C.E., " 1907-09 

Edward C. Jones, E.E., " 1909-11 

Allan DeW. Colvin, C.E., " 1909-11 

John L. Weber, C.E., " 1910-12 

John W. Bacon, E.E., " 1911-13 

Edward Y. Rice, E.E., " 1911-13 

Frank A. Rank, B.S., " 1911-13 

John L. Gray, E.E., " 1912- 

John A. Terrell, E.E., " 1913- 

Philip C. Rummel, Jr., E.E., " 1914- 

English Language 

* James T. Allen, B.S., Professor 1855-58 

* T. Newton Willson, A.M., " 1859-59 

John G. Murdoch, M.A., " . .• 1902- 

Horace Loomis, C.E., Instructor 1862-65 

Charles E. Illsley, A.B., C.E., " 1866-67 

* Alexander G. Johnson, A.M., " 1869-75 

John H. Kellom, A.M., " 1876-77 

William W. Morrill, A.M., " 1877-82 

Frank L. Nason, A.B., " 1882-88 

John G. Murdoch, A.M., " 1888-02 

Albert S. Cox, A.M., " 1912- 

* James R. Percy, C.E., Assistant 1857-59 

Oakley A. Johnson, M.S., " 1907-09 

Carl Wachter, A.B., " 1909-10 

Nelson C. Hannay, B.A., B.D., " 1910-12 



APPENDIX IX 



227 



French Language 

Louis Cousin, B.L., Professor 1856-59 

* Philip H. Baermann, " 1862-66 

* J. H. C. L. de Marcelleau, A.B., " 1869-73 

Arthur de Pierpont, B.A., " 1902- 

Paul Edward Von Thun, Instructor 1852-54 

George F. Struve, " 1854-56 

John B. Luce, A.M., " 1860-61 

* J. H. C. L. de Marcelleau, A.B., " 1866-69 

* Jules Godeby, A.B., " 1873-90 

Benedict Papot, " 1891-96 

Arthur de Pierpont, B.A., " 1896-02 

Amedee Simonin, Ph.D., " 19 12- 

Amedee Simonin, Ph.D., Assistant 1907-12 

Geodesy f 

* Charles Drowne, C.E., A.M., Professor 1851-55 

* David M. Greene, C.E., " 1856-61 

William H. Searles, C.E., " 1863-64 

Charles McMillan, C.E., " 1865-71 

William L. Adams, C.E., " 1872-78 

* David M. Greene, C.E., " 1878-91 

William G. Raymond, C.E., " 1892-05 

Edward R. Cary, C.E., " 1904- 

William H. Searles, C.E., Acting Professor 1862-63 

William L. Adams, C.E., " " 1864-65 

Charles E. Smith, C.E., " " 1871-72 

* Thomas M. Cleeman, C.E., " " 1891-92 

* William Fenton, C.E., Assistant Professor .... 1864-70 

Edward R. Cary, C.E., " " 1902-04 

William W. Rousseau, C.E., " " 1912- 

* E. A. H. Allen, C.E., Repeater 1849-50 

* George B. Roberts, C.E., B.N.S., " 1850-51 

* William Tweeddale, C.E., Instructor 1852-54 

* Joseph A. Moak, C.E., " 1854-55, 

* David M. Greene, C.E., " 1855-56 

* Joseph G. Fox, C.E., " 1861-62 

* William Fenton, C.E., " 1863-64 

* C. Whitman Boynton, C.E., Assistant 1856-57 

* Charles C. Martin, C.E., " 1856-57 

William H. Powless, C.E., " 1875-76 

* Herman Voorhees, C.E., " 1877-78 

* Deceased. 

t For other assistants in this Department see " Mathematics and Surveying." 



228 



APPENDIX IX 



Geodesy 

Robert R. Chadwick, C.E., 
George R. Baucus, C.E., 

* John H. Emigh, C.E., 
Harry L. Van Zile, C.E., 
Charles W. Parks, C.E., 
Augustus S. Kibbe, C.E., 

* John J. Berger, C.E., 
Guy B. Waite, C.E., 
Edward R. Gary, C.E., 
John Flynn, Jr., C.E., 
Charles A. Roemer, 
William W. Rousseau, C.E., 
Frank B. Gridley, C.E., 
Dan W. Chamberlin, C.E., 
Sherwood B. Grant, C.E., 



{Continued) 

Assistant 1878-82 

1882-84 

1883-95 

1884-85 

1885-86 

li 

li 

i{ 

188S-02 

1902-03 

1902-09 

1904-12 

1906-08 

1907-08 

1908-09 



* Amos Eaton, A.M., 

* Ebenezer Emmons, A.M., M.D., 

* George H. Cook, C.E., B.N.S., 

* Edward A. H. Allen, C.E., 

* James Hall, A.M., LL.D., 

* Robert P. Whitfield, A.M., 

* Henry B. Nason, Ph.D. LL.D., 
John M. Clarke, Ph.D., Sc.D., LL.D 
Amadeus W. Grabau, S.M., 
John M. Clarke, M.A., 
Amadeus W. Grabau, S.M., 



Geology 

Professor 1824-42 

1831-39 

" 1842-46 

" 1850-54 

" (Emeritus, 1876) 1854-76 

" 1877-78 

1878-94 

" . .1896-99 and 1901- 

1900-01 

Instructor 1894-96 

1899-00 



German Language 

Philip H. Baermann, Professor 1862-67 

Paul Edward Von Thun, Instructor 1850-54 

George F. Struve " 1854-56 



Hydraulic Engineering 
Lewis F. Moody, B.S., M.S., Professor. 



1912- 



Law 

* James Forsyth, LL.D., Lecturer, Law of Contracts. 1875-86 

John H. Peck, LL.D., " " '" " 1888-01 

G. B. Wellington, A.M., C.E., LL.B., " " " " 1901- 

Albert G. Davis, B.S., M.L., Lecturer, Patent Law 1908- 



* Deceased. 



APPENDIX IX 



229 



Mathematics f 

*" B. Franklin Greene, C.E., A.M., Professor 1847-50 

"^ Charles Drowne, C.E., A.M., " 1850-55 

" Dasconi Greene, C.E., " (Emeritus, 1893). 1858-93 

Chas.W.Crockett,C.E.,A.M.,LL.D., " 1893- 

'" Charles Drowne, C.E., A.M., Adjunct Professor 1849-50 

' Dascom Greene, C.E., " " .... 1853-58 

' T. Orlando Hopkins, C.E., Assistant Professor. . . . 1857-59 

'William Fenton, C.E., " " .... 1864-70 

Arthur W. Bower, C.E., " " .... 1874-75 

Palmer C. Ricketts, C.E., " " .... 1882-84 

Charles W. Crockett, C.E., A.M., " " 1884-93 

James McGiffert, C.E., M.A., " " .... 1902- 

' Charles Drowne, C.E., A.M., Repeater 1847-48 

■ George W. Plympton, C.E., " 1850-50 

= George B. Roberts, C.E., B.N.S., " 1850-51 

• Dascom Greene, C.E., " 1852-53 

' De Volson Wood, C.E., Instructor 1856-57 

• Joseph G. Fox, C.E., " 1861-62 

Horace Loomis, C.E., " . 1862-64 

' William Fenton, C.E., " 1863-64 

'■ George M. Hunt, C.E., " 1864-67 

Arthur W. Bower, C.E., " 1871-74 

Palmer C. Ricketts, C.E., Assistant 1875-82 

Frank L. Nason, A.B., " 1882-88 

■ John H. Emigh, C.E., " 1883-95 

^ James M. Wilson, C.E., " 1885-86 

George W. Worcester, B.S., " 1887-88 

Guy B. Waite, C.E., " 1888-90 

John G. Murdoch, A.M., " . 1888-02 

Daniel L. Turner, C.E., " 1891-92 

James McGiffert, Jr., C.E., " 1892-02 

William E. Whitney, C.E., " 1896-97 

William W. Rousseau, C.E., " 1899-04 



Mathematics and Surveying 
Elwyn M. Clarke, C.E., Assistant, 1904-12, Instructor. 



William R. Headden, C.E., 


" 1904-12, " 


Rudolph F. Tessier, C.E., 


1905-12, 


Earle B. Fox, C.E., 


" 1907-12, " 


Chas. D. Babcock, C.E., 


" 1909-12, " 


Chas. D. Calkins, C.E., 


" 1909-12, " 



I9I2- 

19 12- 
I912- 
I912- 
1912- 
I9I2- 



* Deceased. 

fFor other assistants in this Department see " Mathematics and Surveying." 



230 



APPENDIX IX 



Mathematics and Surveying {Continued) 

John H. Eglof, C.E., Assistant, 1909-12, Instructor... 1912- 

" 1909-12, " ... 1912- 

" 1909-12, " ... 1912- 

" 1910-12, " ... 1912- 

" 1910-12, " ... 1912- 

" 1912-14, " ... 1914- 

Assistant 1901-02 

" 1902-03 



Guy M. Phelps, C.E., 
Louis B. Pufifer, C.E., 
Geo. H. Bainbridge, C.E., 
Frank I. Williams, C.E., 
George B. Banks, C.E., 
Joseph Firth, C.E., 
Carl J. Schumann, C.E., 
James R. Fitzpatrick, C.E., 
James W. Morgan, C.E., 
Charles A. Worden, C.E., 
John W. Calder, C.E., 
James M. Hemphill, C.E., 
Orville L. Eltinge, C.E., 
Donald N. Becker, C.E., 
Herbert McM. Dibert, C.E., 
Howard G. Millington, C.E., 
Tandy A. Bryson, C.E., 
Robert N. Greene, C.E., 



1903-05 
1903-05 
1904-09 
1905-10 
1907-08 
1907-09 
1908-09 
1908-09 
1908-10 
1910-11 
1911-12 



Mechanics 



* B. Franklin Greene, C.E., A.M., 

* Charles Drowne, C.E., A.M., 
William H. Burr, C.E., 

Palmer C. Ricketts, E.D., LL.D., 
Thomas R. Lawson, C.E., 
Thomas R. Lawson, C.E., 

* Charles Drowne, C.E., A.M., 
William H. Burr, C.E., 

* Adolfo E. Besosa, C.E., 
Thomas R. Lawson, C.E., 
Leroy W. Clark, C.E., 

* E. A. H. Allen, C.E., 

* James W. Bradshaw, C.E., 

* William Tweeddale, C.E., 
George L. Moody, 

* C. Whitman Boynton, C.E., 

* T. Orlando Hopkins, C.E., 
Arthur W. Bower, C.E., 
Gordon S. Thompson, C.E., 
Leroy W. Clark, C.E., 
William H. Burr, C.E., 
William H. Powless, C.E., 

* Deceased. 



Professor 1850-59 

1860-76 

1876-84 



1884- 

1908- 

Associate Professor. . . . 1906-08 

Adjunct Professor 1850-51 

Assistant Professor. . . . 1876-76 

.... 1882-83 

" " . . . . 1902-06 

" 1914- 

Repeater 1850-50 

1850-51 

" 1852-54 

" 1854-54 

" 1856-57 

" 1857-59 

Instructor 1871-75 

" 1912- 

" 1912-14 

" 1875-76 

Assistant 1877-78 



APPENDIX IX 231 

Mechanics {Continued) 

John A. L. Waddell, C.E., Assistant 1878-80 

* Adolfo E. Besosa, C.E., " 1880-82 

George R. Baucus, C.E., " 1883-83 

Guy H. Elmore, C.E., " 1883-84 

William W. Cummings, C.E., " 1884-89 

Hugh Anderson, C.E., " 1889-98 

Harry Shoemaker, C.E., " 1904-06 

Gordon S. Thompson, C.E., " 1905-12 

Leroy W. Clark, C.E., " 1906-12 

John H. Spengler, C.E., " 1909-12 

Henry E. Pulver, B.S., C.E., " 1912-13 

William O. Andrews, B.S., " 1913- 

Mechanical Engineering 

Arthur M. Greene, Jr., B.S., M.E., Professor 1907- 

LewisF. Moody, B.S., M.S., Assistant Professor. . . . 1908-12 

Robert L. Streeter, B.S., M.E., " " ... .1910- 

Fred G. Hechler, M.E., Assistant, 1908-12, Instructor... 1912- 
Grant K. Palsgrove, M.E., " 1911-13, " ...1913- 

Henry J. Klotz, B.S., " 1912-14, " ... 1914- 

William W. Edwards, B.S., Assistant 1907-12 

1909-11 

1909-12 

1911-13 

1912-13 

1913- 

1913- 



Leo Loeb, A.B., B.S., 
Milton C. Stuart, B.S., 
Frank J. Willson, M.E., 
Paul K. Mills, B.S., 
Frank E. Bardrof, M.E., 
Frank L. Eidmann, M.E., 



Mental Philosophy 

* N. S. S. Beman, D.D., LL.D., Professor 1854-65 

* N. S. S. Beman, D.D., LL.D., Lecturer 1841-54 

Metallurgy 

George W. Maynard, A.M., Professor 1867-71 

Enrique Touceda, C.E., " 1906- 

Mineralogy 

David H. Newland, A.B., Instructor 1912- 

David H. Newland, A.B., Assistant 1907-12 

Natural History 

* Edward A. H. Allen, C.E., Professor 1854-55 

* Henry B. Nason, Ph.D., LL.D., " 1858-64 

* Deceased. 



232 



APPENDIX IX 



Pattern Making and Forging 

Charles E. Stewart, B.S., Instructor 1908-12 

Alexander H. Cockburn, " 1908- 

George W. H. Fawkes, " 1912- 

Physical Training and Hygiene 

Paul B. Samson, M.P.E., Professor 1912- 

Francis E. Bernhard, Assistant 19 12- 

Physics 

* B. Franklin Greene, C.E., A.M., Professor 1847-53 

Charles A. Goessmann, Ph.D., " 1861-64 

Arthur W. Bower, C.E., " 1878-80 

Frank P. Whitman, A.M., " 1880-86 

W. Le Conte Stevens, Ph.D., " 1892-98 

Hugh M. Anderson, C.E., " 1898-01 

Charles W. Parks, C.E., Acting Professor 1886-93 

* Henry A. Rowland, C.E., Ph.D., Assistant Professor. . . . 1874-75 

Arthur W. Bower, C.E., " " 1875-78 

Wynant J. Williams, C.E., " " .... 1912- 

* Charles Drowne, C.E., A.M., Repeater 1847-50 

* Lewis G. Lowe, C.E., B.N.S., " 1850-50 

* James W. Bradshaw, C.E., " 1850-51 

* William Tweeddale, C.E., " 1852-54 

George L. Moody, " 1854-55 

Albert H. Gallatin, A.M., M.D., Lecturer 1866-67 

* Henry A. Rowland, C.E., Ph.D., Instructor 1872-74 

J. S. Hodges, A.B., Assistant 1900-01 

Harold H. Rudd, B.A., " 1902-04 

■Railroad Signals 

Pemberton Smith, C.E., Lecturer 1892-96 

Peter G. Ten Eyck, " 1906-06 

William W. Lavarack, " 1908-12 

William H. Elliott, " 1912- 

Steam-engine 

* David M. Greene, C.E., Professor 1878-91 

H. de B. Parsons, B.S., M.E., " . . , 1892-07 

H. de B. Parsons, B.S., M.E., " (Emeritus) . . . 1907- 

William J. Keep, C.E., Lecturer 1877-78 

* Deceased. 



APPENDIX IX 233 

As shown in Chapter I, in the early days of the school, 
the teacher next in rank to the Senior Professor was called 
the Junior Professor, and the other instructors, who were 
appointed for a term or year, were called Assistants to the 
Senior Professor or to the Junior Professor. 

Junior Professors 

* Lewis C. Beck, M.D 1824-29 

* Hezekiah H. Eaton, A.B. (r.s.) 1829-30 

* Paul E. Stevenson, A.B. (r. s.) 1830-31 

* Ebenezer Emmons, A.M., M.D 1831-39 

Assistants to the Senior Professor 

* Fay Edgerton, A.B. (r.s.) 1828 

* Thomas C. Ripley, A.B. (r.s.) 1828 

* Orlin Oatman, A.B. (r.s.) 1829 

* Daniel O. Comstock, A.B. (r.s.) 1829 

* James C. Booth 1831 

* S. Wells Williams, A.B. (r.s.) 1832 

* D. Cady Smith, A.B. (r.s.) 1833 

* Alexander Van Rensselaer, A.B. (r.s.) 1833 

* Theron R. Hopkins, A.B. (r.s.) 1834 

* Edward Suffern, C.E 1835 

* Leman B. Garlinghouse, C.E 1836 

* George Johnson, C.E., B.N.S 1836 

Assistants to the Junior Professors 

* Timothy Dwight Eaton, A.B. (r.s.) 1827 

* Orlin Oatman, A.B. (r.s.) 1827 

* John M. Barrows, A.B. (r.s.) 1829 

* Hezekiah H. Eaton, A.B. (r.s.) 1829 

* Douglas Houghton, A.B. (r.s.) 1830 

* James B. Dungan 1830 

* Abel Storrs, A.B. (r.s.) 1830 

* Abram Sager, A.B. (r.s.) 1831 

* James Hall, A.B. (r.s.) 1833 

* Deceased. 



234 



APPENDIX X 



APPENDIX X 

Catalogue of Graduates with Degrees and 
Dates of Graduation 

M.E. after the name of a graduate of one of the classes from 1868 to 
1 87 1 signifies "Mining Engineer"; the same letters after the name of 
a graduate of one of the classes 191 1 to 1914 signifies "Mechanical 
Engineer." See page 105. 



NAME. DEGREE. CLASS. 

Abbe, Walter, Jr c.E. 1909 

Abbott, Edward P c.E. 1913 

Abbott, Walter R c.E. 1909 

Abbott, William J C.E. 1909 

Ackley, Calvin c.E. 1854 

Adam, Carl F c.E. 1890 

Adams, Chester W C.E. 1903 

Adams, David, Jr c.E. 1914 

Adams, Edwin G., Jr c.E. 1891 

Adams, William L c.E. 1862 

*Addison, Alexander C.E. 1866 

Adey, Charles C C.E. 191 1 

Adey, William H c.E. 1895 

Adolph, Joseph H., Jr. . .c.e. 1909 

Africa, James M ...... . .c.E. 1888 

*Aguiar, A. W. F. de c.E. 1867 

Aguilera, Eugene L c.E. 1887 

Aguilera, Pedro T C.E. 1887 

*Aguirregaviria, Castro. . .c.E. 1888 

Aiken, William A c.E. 1872 

Albarran, Eduardo M. . .c.E. 1908 

Alber, Chas. J c.E. 1907 

Albright, John J m.e. 1868 

*Alcover, Frederico M. . .C.E. 1871 

Alden, John F C.E. 1872 



Alden, Langf ord T . . . . 

Aldrich, J. Franklin. . . 

Aldrich, Truman H . . . 

Alexander, Alexander.. 
*AlIaire, William M . . . . 
*Allen, Edward A. H . . . 



.C.E. 1909 
.C.E. 1877 
.M.E. i86q 



I9I2 

1876 
1850 



.C.E. 
.C.E. 
.C.E. 



*Allen, James T b.s. 1855 



NAME. DEGREE. CLASS. 

Allen, John M C.E. 1908 

Allen, Julian S C.E. 1885 

Allen, Kenneth c.E. 1879 

*Ambler, John G. . . .A.B.(r.s.) 1833 

Amsden, Ik. E c.E. 1891 

Anderson, Hugh McV. . .c.E. 1886 

Anderson, James C C.E. 1876 

Andrews, Ervin W C.E. 1909 

Andros, Charles H C.E. 1907 

Angell, Ralph L c.E. 1912 

*Anthony, Charles H. . .b.n.s. 1840 

Anzola, Roberto C.E. 1869 

Applegate, Kenneth P. . .e.e. 1912 

*Appleton, Francis E. 
Appleton, Thomas. . 

*Arango, Ricardo M . 

Ardila, R.icardo 

Argollo, Miguel de T 

Argus, George L c.E. 191 1 

Armengol, Eladio c.E. 1913 

Armer, Hiley N C.E. 1909 

Arms, Edward W c.E. 1869 

*Arms, StillmanE. . .A.B.(r.s.) 1826 

*Arnold, Hiram A.B.(r.s.) 1828 

Arnold, Hubert T c.E. 1906 

Arnold, John T c.E. 1885 

Arnold, Lawrence L b.s. 1899 

*Arnold, L.M b.n.s., c.e. 1837 

Arnold, William H C.E. 1890 

Arnold, Wendell M e.e. 191 i 

Arnsfield, James I m.e. 1913 

Arosemena, Carlos C. c.E. , b.s. 1892 



C.E. 


1863 


C.E. 


1868 


C.E. 


1887 


M.E. 


I9I2 


C.E. 


187I 



* Deceased. 



APPENDIX X 



235 



NAME. DEGREE. CLASS. 

Ashby, Edward B c.e. 1886 

Asseln, Emil C.E. 1899 

Auchincloss, W. S C.E. 1862 

*Auerbach, Charles G. . . .c.e. 1877 

Auringer, Jay A C.E. 1906 

Avakian, John C c.e. 1902 

*Avery, Henry J b.n.s. 1838 

Aycrigg, William A c.e. 1884 

Babcock, Charles D C.E. 1909 

Babcock, Franklin c.e. 1907 

Babcock, Henry N m.e. 1870 

Babcock, W. Irving C.E. 1878 

Babe, Jose M c.e. 1902 

Backes, Walter P c.e. 191 i 

Bacon, John W C.E. 1911 

*Baermann, P. H c.E. 1867 

Bagg, Frederick A C.E. 1893 

*Bagley, John A C.E. 1853 

Bailey, Harrison A M.E. 1913 

*Bailey, Thomas W C.E. 1849 

*Bailey, William C b.n.s. 1838 

*Baily, Joseph T C.E. 1870 

*Bainbridge, Francis H. . .C.E. 1884 

Bainbridge, G. H., Jr C.E. 1910 

Baker, Albert A c.e. 1909 

Baker, Arthur G C.E. 1876 

Baker, Arthur L C.E. 1873 

*Baker, Henry C.E. 1837 

Baker, John D e.e. 1914 

*Baker, William L C.E. 1871 

Balbin, Ernesto J C.E. 1882 

Baldwin, John H C.E. 1909 

*Baldwin, William L C.E. 1861 

Ball, Atilio C E.E. 191 1 

*BaIl, Jasper N C.E. 1848 

Ball, R. Edward c.E. 1875 

Baltimore, Garnet D. . . .C.E. 1881 

*Baltzell, Thomas K c.e. 1854 

JBanker, Edward W C.E. 1903 

Banker, Walter B C.E. 191 1 

Banks, George B c.E. 19 12 

Bankson, Paul A C.E. 1906 

* Deceased. 



NAME. DEGREE. CLASS. 

Bantel, E. C. H c.E. 1897 

Barber, Clarence M c.E. 1878 

Barcellos, J. J. A. deB.s.,c.E. 1868 

Bardrof, Frank E m.e. 1913 

Barker, C. W. T c.E. 1903 

Barker, Stephen W m.e. 1868 

Barnard, James R c.E. 1909 

*Barnard, John F c.E. 1850 

Barnes, Frank E C.E. 1898 

Barnett, Charles R., Jr. .c.E. 1903 

Barney, Percy C c.E. 1893 

Barnum, David F C.E. 1908 

Barr, George G m.e. 19 14 

Barros, Mario P. de c.e. 1894 

*Barrows, John M.. .A.B.(r.s.) 1829 

Bartlett, Frank S C.E. 1907 

Bartley, Michael J c.E. 1907 

Bascom, Benj. H., Jr. . . .c.E. 1903 

Bascom, Harry F C.E. 1896 

Bates, Frank C C.E. 1889 

Bates, Robert G c.E. 191 1 

Bates, William S m.e. 1871 

Baucus, George R c.e. 1882 

Baucus, William I c.E. 1887 

Baum, George c.E. 1891 

Bayley, C. A. D c.E. 1900 

*Bayley, G. W. R C.E. 1838 

Bayly, Lyster G C.E. 1907 

Bayly, Marcos E c.E. 1898 

Beall, Pendleton C.E. 1909 

Bean, Paul J c.E. 1908 

Beardsley, Arthur C.E. 1867 

Beardsley, Fred. A c.e. 19 ii 

Beardsley, Walter D c.e. 1911 

Beaty, Norman H c.e. 1911 

Becker, Donald N C.E. 1908 

Beebe, George H c.E. 1896 

Beebe, Henry R c.E. 1904 

Beer, Paul c.e. 1900 

Beers, Harold S c.e. 1907 

Beers, Robert A c.e. 1908 

Behan, William C c.e. 1914 



236 



APPENDIX X 



NAME. DEGREE. CLASS. 

Beiermeister, William.. . .c.e. 1909 
Belding, Sherman W. . . .c.e. 1891 

Bell, George A., Jr c.E. 1900 

Bell, James C C.E. 1906 

*Bell, James E C.E. 1873 

Bell, Stephen M C.E. 1903 

Belmont, Franklyn E. . . .C.E. 1907 
Bement, Robert B. C C.E. 1869 

*Bement, Rufus B. . . .A.B.(r.s) 1830 

*Benedict, Abner A.B.(r.s.) 1826 

Benkart, Harry W C.E. 1906 

Bennett, Fred C C.E. 1912 

Bentley, John C C.E. 1904 

Bergen, Van Brunt C.E. 1863 

Bergen, William J. .... . .C.E. 1897 

*Berger, John J C.E. 1886 

Berndt, Edward C C.E. 19 14 

Bertolet, Alfred S m.e. 1871 

*Besosa, Adolfo E c.E. 1875 

*Best, Arthur J c.e. 1877 

Beyer, A. G. H e.e. 1914 

Bidwell, George F., Jr. . .c.e. 1903 

*Billings, C., Jr C.E. 1877 

Billingsley, Frederic N. . .C.E. 1910 

Billingsley, Jas. W C.E. 1902 

Binsse, Henry B C.E. 1875 

Birch, Charles E C.E. 1892 

*Birdsall, James W T.E. i860 

Bixby, William F C.E. 1906 

Black, Alexander M c.e. 1869 

Black, Edward F c.e. 1904 

Black, Joel H c.e. 191 i 

Blackhall, Walter L B.s. 1907 

Blair, Frank J C.E. 1907 

Blair, Frank K E.E. 191 1 

*Blaisdell, Anthony H.. . .C.E. 1870 

Blake, James J . , C.E. 1894 

Blandy, Isaac C c.E. 1887 

*Blanton, L. Harvie c.E. 1877 

Blaum, William J c.E. 1912 

Blitman, Charles H C.E. 1914 

*Bloss, Jabez P b.n.s. 1846 



NAME. DEGREE. CLASS. 

Bloss, Richard P c.e. i88r 

*Blun, Abram c.E. 1873 

Boardman, Arthur E. . . .c.E. 1870 
*Boardman, Henry M . . . .c.E. 1871 

Bode, Francis X c.E. 191 1 

Bogue, Virgil G c.E. 1868 

Bolano, Emanuel L c.e. 1909 

Bold, Ralph E c.e. 1910 

*Boller, Alfred P c.E. 1861 

*Boller, Frederick J c.E. 1869 

*Bontecou, Reed B. . . .b.n.s. 1842 

Booth, Harvey c.E. 1912 

*Booth, James C f ph.d. 1831 

Booth, James N c.e. 1912 

Bornefeld, Charles F. . . .c.E. 1909 
*Bostrom, Augustus O. . .c.E. 1877 

Bostrom, Carl A c.E. 1901 

Bosworth, A. P c.E. 1899 

Botero, Fabriciano C.E. 1885 

*Bours, Benjamin W. . . . .C.E. 1839 

*Bowen, Franklin H c.E. 1883 

Bower, Arthur W .c.e. 1871 

Boyd, James K c.E. 1895 

Boyd, William C C.E. 1895 

*Boyd, William H. . .A.B.(r.s.) 1832 

Boyle, Leo T c.E. 1901 

*Boynton, C. Whitman.. .c.E. 1856 
Bradbury, Orlando E . . . c.E. 1907 

Bradley, C. A c.E. 1897 

Bradley, Theo. J B.s. 1904 

*Bradshaw, James W. . . .C.E. 1850 
*Bradway, J. R. . .c.e., b.n.s. 1841 

Brahe, Karl A c.e. 1914 

Brainard, Hervey E c.E. 1901 

*Brainard, George B c.E. 1865 

Branan, Glen W C.E. 1914 

Braunschweiger, Albert . . c.e. 1906 

Breed, Allen C.E. 1910 

Breese, James L c.e. 1875 

Breithaupt, W. H c.e. 1881 

Brelsford, John H C.E. 1914 

Brenn, C. F C.E. 1897 



* Deceased. t Honorary Degree Conferred in iJ 



APPENDIX X 



237 



NAME. DEGREE. CLASS. 

Bretz, Charles E c.e. 1912 

*Bridgers, R. R c.e. 1879 

*Briggs, Caleb. . . .b.n.s., c.e. 1835 

Briggs, Josiah A., Jr. . . .c.e. 1903 

*Briggs, Roswell E c.e. 1868 

*Brinley, E., Jr b.n.s., c.e. 1839 

Brinsmade, H. N c.e. 1879 

Britton, George C c.e. 1907 

*Brodt, John H. . .C.E., b.n.s. 1844 

Brohm, William C C.E, 1895 

Brokaw, Herbert S C.E. 1908 

Brown, Carleton F c.E. 1904 

Brown, Harry B c.E. 1911 

Brown, Herman M C.E. 19 14 

Brown, Marshall W C.E. 1894 

Brown, N. W. L c.e. 1892 

Brown, Robert K C.E. 1888 

Brown, Thurber A C.E. 1883 

Brown, William S e.e. 1913 

*Browne, Percy T c.E. 1863 

Bruckmann, G. T B.s. 1890 

Bruns, Henry F C.E. 1914 

Brust, Robert S . .c.e. 1910 

Bryan, George, Jr C.E. 1908 

*Bryant, Cyrus A.B.(r.s.) 1829 

*Bryant, Fred M C.E. 1873 

Brydone-Jack, E. E C.E. 1894 

Bryson, Tandy A c.E. 1910 

*Buck, B. Franklin c.E. 1837 

*Buck, Leffert L c.E. 1868 

Buck, Richard S c.E. 1887 

*Buckhout, N. W c.E. 1862 

*Buckingham, E. P C.E. 1861 

Buckley, Timothy J c.E. 1909 

*Bucknell, Elmer J C.E. 1892 

Buel, Albert W C.E. 1883 

*Buel, Richard H C.E. 1862 

*Buel, Samuel, Jr C.E. 1865 

Bull, George M c.e. 1897 

*Bullard, Gardner. . .A.B.(r.s.) 1828 

*Burden, Henry M.E. 1869 

Burden, James c.E. 1892 

* Deceased. 



NAME. DEGREE. CLASS. 

Burden, Morton c.e. 1895 

*Burdett, Edward A c.E. 1876 

Burgar, Fred A c.e. 1913 

Burge, Alfred W C.E. 1893 

*Burgess, William N M.E. 1869 

Burgoyne, John H., Jr. . .c.E. 1902 

*Burhans, Frederick O. . .B.s. 1853 

Burke, James J c.E. 1904 

Burlingham, Prentice H.C.E. 1902 

*Burnet, Leicester c.E. 1856 

Burnham, George, Jr. . . .c.E. 1872 
Burr, William H C.E. 1872 

*Burrall, William H C.E. 1851 

Burroughs, Frederick. . . .c.E. 1903 

Burrows, Lynn M C.E. 1907 

Burton, William c.E. 1902 

Bush, Arthur L c.e. 191 i 

Bush, Frank A C.E. 1913 

Bushnell, Joseph, Jr c.E. 1877 

*Buswell, E. G. . . .b.n.s., c.e. 1841 

Butler, Lawrence P c.e. 1890 

Butt, McCoskry c.E. 1882 

Butterfield, Thomas E. .c.E. 1897 

*Buxton, Clifford c.E. 1865 

*Byram, William H C.E. 1877 

Cabot, William B c.e. 1881 

Caceres, Simon N C.E. 1898 

Cairns, Robert A C.E. 1885 

Calder, John W C.E. 1905 

Calkins, Charles D C.E. 1909 

Caldwell, Charles A c.E. 1888 

Caldwell, James H B.s. 1886 

Caldwell, James N C.E. 1874 

Caler, Willard L C.E. 1906 

*Callery, William V c.E. 1886 

Campbell, Charles c.E. 1873 

Campbell, Charles W. Jr. C.E. 1879 

*Campbell, James, Jr. . .B.N.S. 1843 
Campbell, J. Herbert.. . .C.E. 1900 
Campbell, Joseph H. . . .m.e. 1868 
Campbell, Lawrence V. .C.E. 1910 
Caney, George F e.e. 1912 



238 



APPENDIX X 



NAME. DEGREE. CLASS. 

Caney, Wilbur H c.E. 1912 

*Cantanhede, P. de C. . . .c.E. 1881 

Carbonell, Carlos F C.E. 1875 

Card, William D C.E. 1890 

Carhart, Augustus L. . . .c.E. 1900 

Carnrick, George W C.E. 1874 

Carollo, Bert J C.E. 1913 

*Carr, Ezra S C.E., b.n.s. 1838 

Carreno, Alejo A C.E. 1903 

Carrington, R. H C.E. 19 12 

Carroll, Charles S C.E. 19 12 

Carter, Edward C C.E. 1876 

Carter, Edward F C.E. 1907 

Carter, Paul E c.E. 1908 

Cary, Edward R C.E. 1888 

Casanova, Jose N b.s. 1859 

Case, Ralph E e.e. 1912 

Casellas, Ramon R C.E. 1905 

Case, Fernando c.E. 19 14 

*Cassatt, Alexander J. . . .c.E. 1859 

Castro, Alberto de t.e. i860 

Cather, Don R c.E. 1914 

Catuna, G. V. de B c.E. 19 13 

Cavalcanti, Antonio B.. .c.E. 1913 

*Ceballos, G. F. de C.E. 1868 

Chadwick, Robert R c.E. 1878 

Chalfant, Herman S c.E. 1907 

*Chamberlaine, N. H . . . .C.E. 1856 
Chamberlin, Dan W. . . .C.E. 1907 

Chambers, Frank T C.E. 1892 

Chambers, John. . c.E. 1886 

*Chambers, John S., Jr. . .c.E. 1881 
Chambers, Ralph H C.E. 1893 

*Chandler, Jonathan A.B.(r.s.) 1827 
Chapman, James L., Jr. .c.E. 1901 

Chesrown, Elias C.E. 1885 

Chibas, Eduardo J C.E. 1889 

Child, Harry C C.E. 1907 

Childs, Richard T C.E. 1903 

Chillman, Edward F. . . .C.E. 1888 

*Chislett, John J c.E. 1884 

Christie, David E c.E. 19 13 



NAME. DEGREE. CLASS. 

Christie, Harold B c.E. 19 14 

*Chrysler, Frank c.E. 1884 

*Chubb, A. Lamont,C.E., B.N.S. 1848 

*Church, Daniel W C.E. 1877 

Church, Frederick B . . . .c.E. 1891 

Church, Gaylord c.E. 1913 

Church, Townsend V C.E. 1881 

Church, William L c.E. 1872 

Church, Walter S C.E. 19 12 

Cintra, Francisco deA. . .c.E. 1881 

Clark, Arthur T c.E. 1907 

Clark, Clarence L c.E. 19 11 

*Clark, Dorlon c.E. 1885 

Clark, Elwyn M C.E. 1904 

Clark, Frank L c.E. 1880 

Clark, John A c.E. 1887 

Clark, John M c.E. 1856 

*Clark, Joseph E b.n.s. 1845 

Clark, LeRoy W c.E. 1906 

Clark, Sidney H C.E. 1914 

*Clarke, Joseph B. . .A.B.(r.s.) 1829 

*Cleemann, Thomas M . . .C.E. 1865 

Clemens, Hays H C.E. 1907 

*Clement, William H C.E. 1835 

Cleveland, Ernest W. . . .C.E. 1914 

Clifton, William A c.E. 1908 

*Clinch, J. Morton c.E. 1854 

Clohessy, Edmund J . . . .C.E. 19 10 

Cluett, Sanford L c.E. 1898 

Cobb, Arthur C.E. 1880 

*Cobb, James C A.B.(r.s.) 1831 

Cogswell, William B. . .fc.E. 1851 

Cohn, August M. F c.E. 191 1 

*Coit, James C C.E. 1858 

Colby, Archie L c.E. 1887 

Colby, John D C.E. 1884 

Colby, Safford K c.E. 1894 

Collamer, Ernest D C.E. 19 12 

*Collin, David. . . .C.E., b.n.s. 1842 

*CollingwoQd, Francis. . . .C.E. 1855 

*Collins, Charles. .C.E., b.n.s. 1840 

Colvin, Allan D c.E. 1906 



* Deceased. t Honorary degree conferred in 1884. 



APPENDIX X 



239 



NAME. DEGREE. CLASS. 

Colyer, Charles I C.E. 1899 

*Comstock, Daniel 0,A.B.(r.s.) 1829 

Conklin, Silas H E.E. 1914 

Connell, Joseph A C.E. 1914 

Connery, Casper M C.E. 191 1 

Connett, Albert N C.E. 1880 

Connett, Albert N., Jr. .C.E. 1907 

Converse, Joseph B c.E. 19 10 

Converse, Wade c.E. 1880 

Conway, John W M.E. 19 r2 

*Cook, Albert B c.E. 1892 

*Cook, Charles R c.E. 1837 

*Cook, George H. .c.E., b.n.s. 1839 

Cook, James M c.E. 1898 

*Cook, Robert G b.n.s. 1847 

Cooley, Lyman E c.E. 1874 

Cooper, Theodore c.E. 1858 

Coover, Mervin S E.E. 19 14 

Copeland, David B C.E. 19 12 

Corning, Dudley T C.E. 1898 

Cornwell, William D. . . .C.E. 1901 
Coroalles, Manuel A. . . .c.E. 1897 

Corry, Walter W c.E. 19 14 

*Cotes, Elihu W c.E. 1839 

*Cotterell, Nathan c.E. 1841 

*Cottman, Joseph B b.n.s. 1835 

Cottrell, Norman E C.E. 1907 

Coulson, Benjamin L. . . .c.E. 1893 

*Coupland, Harold J c.E. 1896 

Courtenay, William H. . .c.E. 1879 
*Cova, Nicholas de la . . . . c.E. 1904 

*Covode, James H C.E. 1882 

*Cox, A. Beekman c.E. 1867 

Cox, Harold M c.e. 1912 

Cox, Leonard M C.E. 1892 

Coy, Burgis G C.E. 1904 

Coyle, David C .c.E. 1910 

*Craft, Charles C c.E. 1866 

*Crafts, Walter c.E. 1859 

Craig, Earle C C.E. 1910 

Craig, Walter J c.E. 1910 

Craig, Washington R c.E. 1893 

* Deceased. 



NAME. DEGREE. CLASS. 

Cramer, EHphalet W. . . .c.E. 1879 

Crandall, William G. . . .C.E. 1912 

Crandell, Edwin D E.E. 1914 

Crary, Alexander P C.E. 1901 

Creager, William P c.E. 1901 

*Crehore, C. Frederic. . . .c.E. 1848 

Creighton, Harry M . . . .c.E. 1912 

*Crocker, Edwin B. .a.b. (r.s.) 1833 

Crockett, Charles H. . , .c.E. 1912 

Crockett, Charles W. . . .C.E. 1884 

*Cromwell, James C.E. 1861 

Crosby, Homer C.E. 1887 

Crosby, Horace c.E. 1862 

*Cross, Charles E c.E. 1855 

*Cross, Charles S C.E. 1838 

Crowley, Charles F c.E. 1906 

Crowley, Frederick C. . .C.E. 1912 

Culver, Francis E c.E. 1912 

*Cummings, C. A. .b.n.s., c.e. 1849 

Cummings, Fred M C.E. 1886 

Cummings, W. W C.E. 1884 

Cunningham, A. C C.E. 1885 

Cunningham, Seymour. .C.E. 1884 

Cunningham, William F.C.E. 1904 

Cuntz, Johannes H C.E. 1886 

*Curfman, Samuel B C.E. 1894 

Curly, John S E.E. 1914 

Curtis, Harold E C.E. 1909 

*Curtis, Henry C.E. 1854 

*Curtis, John H C.E. 1873 

Cushman, George H. . . .C.E. 1879 

Cutler, Simon O C.E. 19 11 

*Dabney, Frederick Y. . . .c.E. 1857 

Dalstrom, Oscar F C.E. 1901 

Dalton, Ernest W C.E. 1912 

*Danforth, Henry W C.E. 1842 

*Danker, Albert A.B.(r.s.) 1826 

*Dauchy, Edward N C.E. 1840 

Dauchy, Walter E C.E. 1875 

Davenport, Ezekiel C. . .C.E. 1886 

*Davenport, Fred C.E. 1892 

Davenport, Henry B C.E. 1886 



240 



APPENDIX X 



NAME. DEGREE. CLASS. 

*Davey, JohnJ A.B.(r.s.) 1827 

Davies, Clarence E m.e. 1914 

Davis, Charles H c.e. 1884 

Davis, Chester B c.e. 1877 

Davis, Frank R c.e. 1913 

Davis, James W C.E. 1901 

Davis, Joseph P C.E. 1856 

Davis, Josiah R. T C.E. 1876 

Davis, Ralph E c.e. 19 10 

Davis, Reuben C.E. 1903 

Davis, Samuel T., Jr. . . .c.e. 1895 

Davison, Allen S C.E. 1909 

Davison, George S C.E. 1878 

Daye, John N c.e. 1913 

Deal, Alvin E c.e. 1882 

Deal, Elvin A C.e. 1882 

Decker, Henry H C.E. 1897 

*Decker, Theo. W. . .A.B.(r.s.) 1830 

Degnon, Norman G c.e. 191 i 

De Leon, Moise c.e. 1892 

DeLong, James A c.e. 1901 

Demming, Raymond E. .C.E. 1909 
Denegre, William P C.E. 1877 

*Dennis, George R b.n.s. 1839 

Denny, Stacey E C.E. 1891 

DeRhodes, Guy L c.e. 19 13 

DeRonde, Louis A c.e. 1910 

Deutschbein, Harry J. . .C.E. 1903 

*Devol, Edward A.B.(r.s.) 1831 

DeWitt, Rumley C.E. 1908 

*Dias, Luiz da R...t T.E., C.E. i860 

Dibert, Herbert M C.E. 1908 

Dickinson, E. M., Jr. . . .C.E. 1913 

Diehl, George C C.E. 1894 

Diekmeier, George W. . .C.E. 1895 

Dike, Albyn P c.e. 1877 

Dike, James P C.E. 1912 

Dingelman, Carl c.e. 19 13 

Dion, Edward H C.E. 1912 

Diratzouyan, Janik K. . .C.E. 1910 

Disbrow, W. H. B c.e. 1896 

Diven, John M C.E. 19 13 



NAME. DEGREE. CLASS. 

*Dodge, Richard D c.e. i860 

Dodge, Richard V m.e. 1912 

*DooHttle, Allison B c.e. 1906 

Doran, Maurice P c.e. 1912 

Dore, John E c.e. 1913 

Dorrance, Frank Y c.E. 1906 

Dorsey, Leander c.e. 1899 

Doty, Frederick W c.e. 1907 

Doty, John W C.E. 1902 

*Doughty, W. H c.e. 1858 

Drake, Tracy C b.s. 1886 

*Drayton, Henry J C.E. 1839 

*Drayton, James S b.n.s. 1836 

Dresser, Elbert H C.E. 1905 

*Drew, Francis G. . .A.B.(r.s.) 1827 

Drexler, Norman E c.e. 1912 

*Drowne, Charles C.E., b.n.s. 1847 

*Duane, Harry B c.E. 1878 

*Duane, James C.E. 1873 

Dubs, Alford W c.E. 1908 

Dugan, James H C.E. 1907 

Du Mont, H. V. G c.e. 1912 

DuMoulin, Walter L C.E. 1908 

Duncan, Greer A C.E. 1912 

*Durbin, James G C.E. 1884 

*Durham, Anson C.E. 1840 

Dwyer, Harold R c.e. 19 13 

Dyer, James A c.E. 1897 

Earle, Thomas c.E. 1887 

Easby, M. Ward. C.E. 1886 

Easby, Paul H C.E. 1886 

Easby, William, Jr c.e. 1890 

Easton, Russell B C.E. 1907 

Eaton, Harold C C.E. 1914 

*Eaton, Hezekiah H.A.B.(r.s.) 1826 
*Eaton, Timothy D.A.B.(r.s.) 1826 

Echeverria, Juan F C.E. 1885 

Eckert, Edward W C.E. 1875 

Eddy, Howard R E.E. 1912 

*Eddy, Jacojj F C.E. 1835 

*Edgerton, Fay A.B.(r.s.) 1828 

Edgerton, Ralph W C.E. 1898 



* Deceased, t Honorary degree c.e., conferred in 1882. 




Band 




Orchestra 




Football Team 




Track Team 



APPENDIX X 



241 



NAME. DEGREE. CLASS. 

Edwards, Frederick c.e. 1895 

*Edwards, John C C.E. 1885 

Edwards, Oliver C, Jr.. .C.E. 1907 

*Edwards, Richard b.n.s., c.e. 1848 

Edwards, Thomas H. . . .C.E. 1891 

Eglof, John H C.E. 1909 

Eguiguren, V. F C.E. 1888 

Eichleay, Roy O c.e. 1913 

Elder, George R c.e. 1884 

*Eldridge, Archibald R. . .c.e. 1888 

*Eldridge, Griffith M c.e. 1885 

Elliot, Henry S c.e. 1900 

Elliott, Nathaniel R c.e. 191 i 

Ellis, George E c.e. 1892 

*EIlis, George F c.e. 1856 

Elmer, Howard N c.e. 1877 

Elmore, Guy H c.e. 1883 

Elster, Gurdon G C.E. 1907 

Elster, John B C.E. 1906 

Eltinge, Orville L C.E. 1906 

Ely, Theodore N c.e. 1866 

*Emerson, Rufus H C.E. 1 86 1 

Emery, Albert H C.E. 1858 

Emig, Jacob W C.E. 1903 

Emig, John W C.E. 1898 

*Emigh, John H C.E. 1879 

Emigh, William C C.E. 1909 

Emmerich, Edward E. . .c.E. 1892 

*Emmons, Ebenezer.A.B.(r.s.) 1826 
Emory, Gustavus W c.E. 1887 

*Emory, Thomas. . . .A.B.(r.s.) 1828 
Endicott, Mordecai T. . .C.E. 1868 

Endress, William F C.E. 1879 

Ensign, Milton W C.E. 1871 

Eppele, Frank J c.E. 1888 

Escarza, Sotera E c.E. 1894 

*Escobar, Jose C.E. 1867 

Escobar, Robert C.E. 1857 

Estabrook, John D c.e. 1856 

Estep, Josiah M c.E. 1889 

Eva, Samuel J c.e. 1891 

Evans, James R e.s. 1905 



NAME. degree. CLASS. 

*Evans, Myron E c.e. 1895 

*Evans, W. W c.e. 1836 

*Ewens, John c.e. 1878 

Ewing, J. Nelson c.e. 1887 

Ewing, Wm. M c.e. 1902 

Fabian, William J c.E. 1874 

Fairbanks, Harry J c.E. 191 1 

Fairchild, Henry M c.E. 1886 

Fales, W. L c.e. 1897 

Fallon, Henry D c.E. 1912 

Farnum, Henry H c.E. 1865 

Farrell, John J., Jr c.E. 1913 

Farrell, Thomas F c.e. 1912 

*Farwell, Elmer S C.E. 1891 

*Fay, Francis F m.e. 1868 

Feldmeier, Harvey C.E. 1892 

Felton, Herbert C c.e. 1866 

Fenton, George Y c.E. 19 12 

Fenton, Louis G C.E. 1903 

*Fenton, William C.E. 1861 

Ferebee, Alan M c.e. 1904 

*Ferrao, Jose Tell b.s. 1850 

*Ferris, George W. G. . . .C.E. 1881 

*Ferris, John A., Jr C.E. 1875 

Fickes, Edwin S c.E. 1894 

*Field, Charles S c.E. 1838 

Fields, Samuel J c.E. 1867 

Filer, Walter G c.e. 1890 

Finch, Cecil C m.e. 1914 

Finch, Royal G C.E. 1906 

*Firth, Frederick W C.E. 1902 

Firth, Joseph c.E. 1901 

*Fish, Dean B.s. 1886 

Fisher, Albert L e.e. 1912 

*Fisher, Charles H f C.E. 1853 

*Fisher, Clark c.E. 1858 

*Fisher, Joseph S C.E. 1849 

Fisher, Lewis G c.E. 1904 

*Fisher, Tucker H c.E. 1875 

*Fitch, Asa, Jr A.B.(r.s.) 1827 

Fitzpatrick, James R. . . .c.E. 1903 
Flanagan, Edward J, . . .c.e. 1913 



■ Deceased, t Honorary degree conferred in 1882. 



242 



APPENDIX X 



NAME. DEGREE. CLASS. 

Fleeger, Burtner c.E. 1910 

Flynn, John, Jr C.E. 1894 

Flynn, William C.E. 1910 

Fogarty, Joseph A c.E. 1908 

*Folin, Ormond W B.s. 1859 

Fonda, William V. T. . . .c.E. 1913 

Foote, Olney N c.E. 1909 

Ford, Edwin c.E. 1882 

*Ford, Frank L C.E. 1874 

*Ford, John Q. A c.E. 1866 

Forster, Linn H M.E. 19 13 

Forsyth, Robert C.E. 1869 

*Fortun y Andre, S C.E. 1889 

*Foster, Albert W c.E. 1871 

Foster, S. I c.E. 1902 

Foster, Thomas J c.E. 1892 

*Fowler, Albert C C.E. 1878 

Fowler, Clarence A c.E. 1885 

Fowler, John C, Jr c.E. 1914 

Fowler, Otis L m.e. 1914 

*Fox, Albert R A.B.(r.s.) 1830 

Fox, Charles L c.E. 1902 

Fox, Earle B c.E. 1907 

*Fox, Joseph G C.E. 1861 

*Fox, Peter H c.E. 1864 

Fox, Raymond F m.e. 1913 

Fox, S. Waters c.E. 1876 

Fox, William A c.E. 1906 

*Fox, William L C.E. 1875 

Franco, Antonio de B . . .C.E. 1890 
Franco, Eugenio de L. . .c.E. 1878 

Frank, Isaac W c.E. 1876 

Frazier, James W C.E. 1894 

*Freeman, Ernest G c.E. 1888 

Freeman, Harold A C.E. 1876 

Freeman, Henry R., Jr. .C.E. 1914 
Fritcher, George E C.E. 1878 

*Frith, Arthur J C.E. 1873 

Frost, Edward M C.E. 191 1 

Frost, Stuart E c.E. 1909 

*Frothingham,J.H.,B.N.S., C.E. 1849 

*Fuertes, Estevan A C.E. 186 1 

* Deceased. 



NAME. DEGREE. CLASS. 

Fuess, Frederick F c.E. 1894 

*Furber, Robert S c.E. 1909 

Gabriels, Henry E c.E. 19 10 

Gale, E. Courtland c.E. 1883 

*Gale, E. Thompson c.E. 1837 

*Gale, George A b.n.s. 1847 

Gallagher, Lawrence. . . .c.E. 1913 

Gallico, George G c.E. 19 10 

Gallogly, Harry P C.E. 19 13 

Ganson, James T C.E. 19 11 

*Garcia, F. Garcia y c.E. 1872 

Gardenier, Howard T. . .C.E. 1907 

*Gardner, Arthur B C.E. 189 1 

Gardner, Marvin B C.E. 1908 

Garland, William S c.E. 1894 

Garlinghouse, Fred L. . . .c.E. 1871 

*GarHnghouse, L. B c.E. 1837 

Garlinghouse, Leslie H. .c.E. 1910 
Garlinghouse, Ralph L. .C.E. 19 12 

Garvin, Burr K c.E. 19 12 

Garzon, Julio N c.E. 1894 

Gasteazoro, Carlos A. . . .c.E. 1891 

*Gearn, Walter A C.E. 1878 

Gebhard, Peter T e.e. 19 13 

Geer, Harvey M C.E. 1872 

Geiger, William F C.E. 1909 

Gest, Alexander P. . . . . .C.E. 1874 

Getchell, William S C.E. 1898 

*Geuder, Gottlieb C.E. 1876 

Gibbs, L. A. . .c.E. 1892, b.s. 1893 

Gibeau, Henry A C.E. 1908 

Giberga, Ovidio C.E. 1885 

*Giblin, Arthur L C.E. 1891 

Gibson, Carleton B., Jr.. C.E. 1914 

Giesey, Jesse K c.E. 1904 

Gifford, George E c.E. 1887 

Gifford, George H c.E. 1906 

Gifford, Leslie P C.E. 1909 

Gifford, Lester R c.E. 1895 

Giles, Henry H c.E. 19 11 

Give, Henry L. de c.E. 1888 

Gleason, Robert I c.E. 1896 



APPENDIX X 



243 



NAME. DEGREE. CLASS. 

Glominski, John A c.E. 1908 

Glueck, Frank J C.E. 1912 

Godard, Valentine C.E. 19 14 

Goetzman, F. G c.E. 1878 

Goicouria, A. V. de C.E. 1871 

*Gold, Miner A.B.(r.s.) 1829 

Golden, Edward W C.E. 19 12 

*Goldstein, Max L c.E. 1867 

Gonzalez, Juan, Jr C.E. 1870 

Gordon, Samuel C.E. 1908 

Gormly, Walter B C.E. 1895 

Gottlieb, Richard D C.E. 1890 

Gould, Harry M C.E. 1895 

*Gould, James P c.E. 1863 

Gove, Ralph A., Jr c.E. 1909 

*Gowing, Burdett C C.E. 1861 

Grace, John W c.E. 1895 

Graham, Frank N C.E. 1898 

Graham, Germain P. . . .c.E. 1908 

Graham, Joseph W C.E. 1910 

Granados, R. G. Jr.,. . . .c.E. 1908 

Granger, Arthur J c.E. 19 12 

Grant, Bertrand E c.E. 1890 

*Grant, Edward M c.E. i860 

Grant, Sherwood B c.E. 1908 

Grathwol, Henry J c.E. 19 14 

Grattan, Thomas F C.E. 1903 

Graue, Fred, Jr C.E. 1912 

Gray, George L e.e. 1912 

Gray, John H c.E. 1887 

Greeley, Samuel S c.E. 1846 

Greene, Egbert T c.E. 1912 

Green, Lansdale B c.E. 1891 

Greenalch, Wallace c.E. 1893 

Greenaway, Edward A. .e.e. 1912 

*Greene, Albert S c.E. 1859 

*Greene, B. Franklin, c.E., b.n.s. 1842 

*Greene, Dascom c.E. 1853 

*Greene, David M C.E. 1851 

*Greene, George M C.E. 1859 

Greene, Joseph S c.E. 1878 

Greene, Robert C C.E. 1905 

* Deceased. 



NAME. DEGREE. CLASS. 

Greene, Robert N c.E. 191 1 

Greenfield, Roy C C.E. 1903 

Gregory, Brainerd E. . . .c.E. 1887 

Gridley, Frank B c.E. 1903 

*Gridley, V. H. B.s. 1893, c.E. 1894 

Grier, Charles A c.E. 1908 

*Griffen, George S c.E. 1874 

*Griffen, Henry R c.E. 1877 

Griffith, Charles G C.E. 1877 

Griggs, Albert, Jr C.E. 19 10 

*Grimes, Charles L c.E. 1871 

*Grinnell, Frederick c.E. 1855 

*Griswold, John W B.s. 1865 

Groesbeck, Geo. S c.E. 1889 

Gronau, William F C.E. 1887 

Gross, Edward D. P. . . .M.E. 1913 
Grove, Independence. .. .C.E. 1882 

Guerra, Arturo C.E. 1876 

*Guerrero, Carlos C.E. 1867 

Gugerty, E. J c.E. 1899 

Gunn, Frederick C c.E. 1887 

*Gurley, Lewis E c.E. 1845 

Gurley, Louis W C.E. 1882 

*Gurley, William C.E. 1839 

Guthrie, Vincent R c.E. 1913 

Hack, Reuben C c.E. 1913 

Hackett, Earl C c.E. 1906 

*Haddock, Arba R c.E. 1862 

Hahn, Carl H c.E. 1912 

Haigh, Paul N e.e. 1913 

Haight, H. DeR c.E. 1898 

Haight, Theodore S c.E. 1885 

Hailes, Theo. C, Jr c.E. 1907 

Hailes, William D e.e. 1913 

Hailman, James D C.E. 1887 

Haite, William B C.E. 19 13 

Hale, Harry W c.E. 1907 

*Hall, Fitzedward c.E. 1842 

*Hall, George M c.E. 1849 

*Hall, G. Thomas c.E. 1868 

Hall, Harold J e.e. 1914 

*Hall, James A.B.(r.s.) 1832 



244 



APPENDIX X 



NAME. DEGREE. CLASS. 

Hall, John G c.E. 1887 

*Hall, William. . . .c.E., b.n.s. 1846 

Hallock, James C c.E. 1891 

Hallsted, James C c.E. 1883 

Halpin, George R c.E. 1905 

Hamill, Charles B c.E. 1914 

Hamill, Wm. S C.E. 1904 

Hamilton, Edward P. . . .c.E. 1907 

Hamilton, William E C.E. 19 10 

Hammond, W. B c.E. 1880 

Hanley, Edward A C.E. 1910 

Haraguchi, Kaname c.E. 1878 

Hardesty, Shortridge. . . .C.E. 1908 

Hardy, Nathaniel W C.E. 19 14 

Hardy, Norman G c.E. 19 10 

Hardy, Roswell E c.E. 1914 

Haring, Alexander C.E. 1895 

*Harrison, R. Morley. . . .c.E. 1879 

*Harley, Henry C.E. 1858 

Harper, Abner M c.E. 1907 

*Harper, Albert M c.E. 1867 

Harris, Charles P C.E. 1873 

Harris, Ford W C.E. 1907 

*Harris, Henrique. . .t.e., c.e. i860 

Harris, Job F. W c.E. 1903 

*Harris, Joel B c.E. 1841 

Harris, William P C.E. 1866 

Harrison, Frank C.E. 1888 

Harrison, George A C.E. 1910 

Harrison, Mark J. J C.E. 1913 

Harrold, Thomas c.E. 1887 

Harvey, Thomas A C.E. 1898 

Hasbrouck, Oscar c.E. 1905 

*Haskell, Stephen E., b.n.s., c.E. 1845 

*Haskin, Abel N. . .B.N.S., c.E. 1840 

*Haskin, Alfred B.. c.E. , B.N.S. 1840 

*Haskin, Leonard W C.E. 1841 

Haskin, William L C.E. 1861 

Hassinger, William H. . .c.E. 1885 

Haswell, Walter T e.e. 1914 

Hathaway, Neil F C.E. 1912 

Hauck, Albert L c.E. 1886 

* Deceased. 



NAME. DEGREE. CLASS. 

*Hawley, Fletcher J., C.E., b.n.s. 1837 

Hawley, William C c.E. 1886 

Hayes, Francis V c.E. 191 1 

Hayes, Harry R c.E. 1909 

Haynes, William D c.E. 1913 

Hayt, Stephen T., Jr. . . .c.E. 1882 
Hazlehurst, George H. . .C.E. 1910 
Headden, William R. . . .c.E. 1904 

Healy, Frederic G c.E. 19 13 

Healy, Wilbert M c.E. 1914 

Heaphy, Harry W C.E. 1909 

*Hearne, Frank J c.E. 1867 

Heath, John R c.E. 19 14 

Hebard, Walter C c.E. 1899 

Hebert, Everett E c.E. 1910 

Hebert, Paul O c.E. 1889 

Hedden, Eugene B c.E. 1885 

Heer, William, Jr c.E. 1907 

Heerlein, Robert W c.E. 191 1 

Heintze, Carl F c.E. 1906 

*Heizmann, Theodore I .. c.E. 1859 

Helwig, Eugene C c.E. 1912 

Hemphill, James M C.E. 1907 

*Henderson, William c.E. 1876 

Hendry, Johnson F B.s. 1908 

Henry, Earl C c.E. 191 1 

Henry, Harold W m.e. 1914 

Henry, John J c.E. 1881 

Henry, Philip W C.E. 1887 

*Henry, William G..A.B.(r.s.) 1828 
Henry William J., Jr. . . .C.E. 1914 

Hepburn, Fred T c.E. 1893 

Herden, Byron V c.E. 1909 

Hermann, Edward A. . . .c.E. 1879 
Hermans, Frank A., Jr. .C.E. 1904 

*Hernandez, Jose C.E. 1867 

Herzog, Christian J C.E. 1913 

*Hetzel, James C.E. 1885 

Hewes, Ralph W c.E. 1913 

Hewes, Virgil H C.E. 1881 

Heyl, Jacob E B.s. 1870 

Hicks, Ralph J c.E. 1903 



APPENDIX X 



245 



NAME. DEGREE. CLASS. 

*Hidley, Emerson G c.E. 1895 

Higbee, Lester C c.E. 1912 

*Hill, Augustus G. . .A.B.(r.s.) 1831 

Hilt, Fred K c.E. 1894 

Himmelwright, A. L. A. .c.E. 1888 

*Hinck;ley, Frank C.E. 1863 

Hine, Alfred B c.E. 1895 

Hine, Samuel K b.s. 1892 

Hinman, Archie S C.E. 1908 

Hinrichs, Adolf C.E. 19 12 

Hinsdale, Theodore R. . .c.E. 1886 

Hirai, Seijiro C.E. 1878 

Hitchcock, Dwight A c.E. 1886 

Hoadley, EMward M . . . .c.E. 1889 

Hoar, John C m.e. 1913 

Hodge, Harry S C.E. 1878 

Hodge, Henry W C.E. 1885 

Hoeing, Joseph B c.E. 1876 

Hoffmann, Philip J m.e. 1913 

Holmes, Harrj^ T c.E. 190 1 

*Holmes, Henry c.E. 1855 

Holmes, Lemuel, 2d c.E. 1898 

Holmes, Lewis A c.E. 1907 

Holt, Royden L c.E. 1904 

*Holton, George C c.E. i860 

Homer, Langley S C.E. 1913 

Hone, F. deP c.E. 1897 

Hood, Richard H C.E. 1887 

Hooker, Edward D c.E. 1900 

*Hoover, John S c.E. 1906 

Hopkins, Albert L c.E. 1892 

*Hopkins, James B C.E. 1886 

Hopkins, Lewis N., Jr.. .c.E. 1903 

*Hopkins, T. Orlando. . . .c.E. 1857 

*Hopkins, Theron R. .A.B.(r.s.) 1834 

Hopkins, William T C.E. 1913 

Horan, Frank W C.E. 19 13 

Horbach, Paul W c.E. 1886 

Hormats, Myer e.e. 1912 

*Horsford, Eben N c.E. 1838 

*Horton, George F. .A.B.(r.s.) 1827 
Horton, George T c.E. 1893 

* Deceased. 



NAME. DEGREE. CLASS. 

*Horton, James S. . .A.B.(r.s.) 1829 

*Houghton, D A.B.(r.s.) 1829 

*Houghton, J. F c.E. 1848 

*House, Samuel R. . .A.B.(r.s.) 1834 
Houston, Livingston W. M.E. 1913 

Hover, Leland P c.E. 1908 

Hovey, Paul G C.E. 1910 

Howard, James W C.E. 1888 

*Howard, Jerome B c.E. 1838 

Hubbard, Ralph B e.e. 1913 

Hubbell, George S C.E. 1886 

Hughes, Lome J. F c.E. 1905 

Huhne, Carl A c.E. 1912 

*Hulbert, Addison.. .A.B.(r.s.) 1826 

Hulett, Mason c.E. 1914 

Hulings, Marcus C.E. 1903 

*Humphrey, Henry C. . . .C.E. 1887 

Humphreys, Chas. R. . . .c.E. 1904 

*Humphreys, John G. . . .C.E. 1873 

Hunt, Charles N c.E. 191 1 

Hunt, Conway B c.E. 1882 

*Hunt, George c.E. 1858 

*Hunt, George M c.E. 1866 

Huntington, W. W C.E. 1876 

Huntley, Grant C.E. 1907 

Huntley, R. L. . . ; c.E. 1876 

*Hurd, Tyrus W C.E. 1836 

Hurley, Charles H" c.E. 1908 

Husband, Charles M. . . .C.E. 1906 

Husband, James A c.E. 1910 

Husband, John c.E. 1902 

Hutchins, Guy S c.E. 1913 

Huth, Christian c.E. 1910 

Hutton, Frank C C.E. 1885 

Huyck, Ansel B e.e. 19 14 

Hyde, Arthur L. V C.E. 1914 

*Hyde, Charles B c.E. 1841 

*Hyde, Douglass W C.E. 1841; 

Illingworth, George C. . .C.E. 19 11 

*Illsley, Charles E c.E. 1867 

*Ingham, Wm. A. .C.E., b.n.s. 1846 
Inskip, John S C.E. 1910 



246 



APPENDIX X 



NAME. DEGREE. CLASS. 

Irving, Walter E c.e. 1896 

*Ishigro, Taro C.E. 1881 

*Jackson, Samuel C. . A.B.(r.s.) 1827 

Jacobs, Fred P C.E. 1903 

Jaggard, Herbert A C.E. 1889 

James, Merton E c.e. 1904 

James, Winfield S C.E. 1905 

Jarrett, Edwin S C.E. 1889 

Jeffers, William W C.E. 1892 

Jenkins, James E c.E. 1904 

Jenkins, Lewis L c.E. 1882 

*Jennings, Henry C C.E. 1879 

*Jenny, Joseph H C.E. 1841 

Jewett, Charles H c.E. 1885 

Johnson, Clarence L. . . .e.e. 1913 

*Johnson, George. .C.E., B.N.s. 1837 

*Johnson, Isaac G.,b.n.s., c.E. 1848 

Johnson, James M C.E. 1879 

Johnson, Lancelot L. . . .c.E. 1907 

Johnson, Lewis H C.E. 1908 

Johnston, Andrew C . . . .C.E. 1908 

Johnston, Edsall R C.E. 19 14 

Johnston, Stewart, C.E. 1887 

*Johnston, Thomas T. . . .c.E. 1877 

Johnstone, Clifford S. . . .C.E. 1913 

Jones, George H C.E. 1909 

Jones, Walter E c.E. 1901 

Jones, Walter S c.E. 1893 

Jones, William L c.E. 19 11 

Jorjorian, H. K C.E. 1904 

Jova, Joseph L c.E. 1907 

Joyes, Watson B c.E. 191 1 

Judd. Harry E c.E. 1902 

*Judson, Charles T c.E. 1875 

Just, George A c.E. 1881 

Kast, Clarke N C.E. 1900 

Kaufman, Gustave C.E. 1880 

Kay, Edgar B c.E. 1883 

Kay, William G c.E. 1875 

Keenan, John J c.E. 1888 

*Keeney, John C. . . .A.B.(r.s.) 1827 

Keis, Francis J c.E. 1906 

* Deceased. 



NAME. DEGREE. CLASS. 

Keller, G. A c.E. 1899 

Kelley, George B c.E. 1895 

*Kellogg, E. R. . . .C.E., B.N.s. 1841 

*Kellogg, Nathan c.E. 1841 

Kellogg, Norman B c.E. 1873 

Kellogg, Warren T c.E. 1861 

Kelly, John F c.E. 1910 

*Kelly, John P c.E. 1876 

Kelly, Walter L ...... . .c.E. 1904 

Kemp, Edward J C.E. 1898 

Kemp, William, 2nd. . . .C.E. 1913 

*Kendall, David C.E. 1838 

Kennedy, John H c.E. 1908 

Kibbe, Augustus S C.E. 1886 

Kiersted, Wynkoop C.E. 1880 

Kilbourne, Edward W. . .C.E. 1885 

Kilby, Charles C C.E. 191 1 

Kilmer, Winton W C.E. 191 1 

Kimball, F. N c.E. 1886 

Kimberly, J. A., Jr C.E. 1889 

Kimmey, Elda L c.E. 1909 

*King, William J C.E. 1880 

Kingman, John A c.E. 1897 

*Kingman, L. H . . . .A.B.(r.s.) 1829 
Kingsley, Charles B c.E. 1908 

*Kingsley, James C C.E. 1876 

Kingsley, John E C.E. 1912 

Kinloch, Donald H C.E. 1914 

Kinne, George W C.E. 1900 

*Kirby, George F C.E. 1857 

Kirtland, Alfred P C.E. 1871 

Kirtland, Elmour F C.E. 1894 

Klemm, Edward S c.E. 1914 

Kline, Homer C C.E. 1902 

Knap, Joseph M C.E. 1858 

*Knap, Thomas L C.E. 1866 

Knapp, George O c.E. 1876 

Kneass, E., m.e., 1913, m.m.e., 1914 

*Kneass, Strickland C.E. 1839 

Kneass, Str-ickland, Jr.. .M.E. 191 1 
Kneass, Strickland L. . . .c.E. 1880 

*Knickerbacker, H., Jr. . .c.E. 1887 



APPENDIX X 



247 



NAME. DEGREE. CLASS. 

Knickerbacker, John. . . .c.E. 1886 

Knowlton, T. E c.E. 1893 

Koch, Albert F c.E. 1897 

Koerner, F. C, Jr C.E. 1906 

Koerner, Julius F C.E, 191 1 

Kohlhofer, Adolph J. . . .c.E. 1912 

Kohn, William O c.E. 19 13 

Korschen, John A., Jr. . .c.E. 1906 

Koss, George W c.E. 1901 

Kraft, William F c.E. 1910 

*Krause, Conrad B c.E. 1879 

Krauss, John P C.E. 1905 

Kreischer, Gustav A. . . .c.E. 1897 

Kreiger, G. W., Jr C.E. 1907 

Kulp, Burr R c.E. 1905 

Kummer, Frederic A. . . .c.E. 1894 

Kuntz, Guy T c.E. 191 1 

Kuys, Andrew T c.E. 1913 

Lacerda, Augusto de. . . .b.s. 1855 

La Chicotte, Henry A. . .c.E. 1885 

*La Coste, Louis c.E. 1841 

Laflin, Louis E c.E. 1882 

*Lally, James c.E. 1861 

Lamb, Andrew F c.E. 19 12 

Lanagan, Frank R C.E. 1905 

Landor, Edward J C.E. 1876 

Langdon, W. C C.E. 1897 

Lane, Edward V. Z c.E. 1875 

Lane, Leland T c.E. 1899 

Lapeyre, James M C.E. 1892 

*Lapham, William G C.E. 1838 

Larmon, Frank P c.E. 1900 

La vandeira, Antonio .... c.E. 1877 

Lawlor, Joseph M C.E. 1888 

Lawlor, Thomas F C.E. 1886 

*Lawrence, B. R b.s. 1868 

Lawson, Thomas R C.E. 1898 

*Lawton, Frederick B. . . .c.E. 1891 

*Lay, Henry C C.E. 1875 

Lea, George H c.E. 1872 

Lee, Chester S C.E. 1909 

Leaming, Thomas H., Jr.B.s. 1914 



NAME. DEGREE. CLASS. 

Leibee, Hugh C c.E. 1907 

Leland, John P., Jr c.E. 1902 

Leme, Luiz G. da S c.E. 1880 

Lempe, Fred J c.E. 1893 

*Lent, George B c.E. 1838 

Leonard, Vreeland Y. . . . e.e. 1912 
*Lesley, Alexander M . . b.n.s. 1846 

*Leverich, Gabriel c.E. 1857 

Lewis, Harold M c.E. 19 12 

Lewis, Nelson P c.E. 1879 

*Lewis, William. . .c.E., b.n.s. 1840 

*Lilienthal, B.N . C.E. 1866 

*Lindsley, Aaron L c.E. 1842 

Lippincott, Jason E c.E. 1883 

Lippitt, William F., Jr.. .c.E. 1913 
Lippitt, William P. C . . .c.E. 1911 

Litter, F. J c.E. 1898 

Livingston, Benjamin S. .C.E. 1912 

Llano, Antonio c.E. 1890 

Lo, King Tai c.E. 19 14 

*Locke, Elmer H b.n.s. 1848 

Lockhart, John M c.E. 1887 

*Lockling, Levi L.,c.E., b.n.s. 1837 
Lockwood, Le Roy V.. . .c.E. 1912 

*Long, Thomas J c.E. 1873 

*Loomis, Charles L c.E. 1851 

Loomis, Horace C.E. 1865 

Loomis, Leon C c.E. 1912 

Loucks, Eugene C c.E. 1912 

Loughran, James F C.E. 1906 

Love, Malcolm E c.E. 1913 

Low, Samuel B c.E. 1876 

Lowe, Jesse C.E. 1885 

*Lowe, Lewis G. . .c.E., b.n.s. 1848 
*Lowrey, Goodwin, c.E., b.n.s. 1845 

Lozier, William S c.E. 1906 

*Luaces, Ernesto L c.E. 1867 

Ludden, Edmond F c.E. 1909 

Ludwig, Julius Alfred. . .c.E. 1889 

Luebeck, Alfred c.E. 1912 

Lush, Cuyler W c.E. 1905 

Lyall, William H c.E. 1914 



* Deceased. 



248 



APPENDIX X 



NAME. DEGREE. CLASS. 

Lynch, Francis J c.E. 1912 

Lyon, Percy E C.E. 1898 

Lyons, Francis R C.E. 1914 

*Mabbett, Henry J. .A.B.(r.s.) 1833 
MacCurdy, George L. . . .c.E. 1914 

Macdonald, Allan F c.E. 1912 

Macdonald, Charles C.E. 1857 

MacEwan, Fred L c.E. 1908 

Macfarlane, Graham. . . .c.E. 1872 
MacGregor, George C. . .c.E. 187 1 
Machin, Sergio E C.E. 1914 

*Mackay, D. W., c.E. 1897, b.s. 1898 

Macken, Dalton K E.E. 1914 

Mackenzie, Gardner E. .m.e. 1913 

Mackey, Scott W b.s. 1913 

Macksey, Henry V C.E. 1886 

MacPherson, J. A., Jr. . .C.E. 1894 

Mader, Arthur B c.E. 1890 

Magary, Olin J c.E. 1913 

Magor, Basil c.E. 1894 

Maguire, James B c.E, 1894 

Malcolm, Thomas C. . . .c.E. 191 1 

Mallary, Harold T c.E. 1912 

Mallory, George B c.E. 1867 

Mallory, Marshall H c.E. 1865 

Man, Albon P c.E. 1866 

Mandl, Robert C.E. 1907 

Manier, Ralph L M.E. 1914 

Mann, Elias P C.E. 1872 

*Mann, George H C.E. 1870 

Manning, W. J. H C.E. 191 1 

*Mansfield, M. W C.E. 1871 

Manss, Walter A b.s. 1914 

Mantica, Albert J C.E. 1912 

Manville, C. Rollin C.E. 1880 

Manzanilla, Joaquin M.. C.E. 1909 
Manzanilla, Joseph J. . . .c.E. 1909 

Marburg, Edgar C.E. 1885 

Marcy, William B.s. 1893 

Markham, William C. . . C.E. 1904 

*Marks, J. Harrod C.E. 1871 

Marlett, S. H. . . .c.E., b.n.s. 1841 



NAME. DEGREE. CLASS. 

Mariing, William. c.E. 1872 

Marsh, Emmett L c.E. 1906 

Marshall, Joseph P c.E. 1903 

Marshall, Thomas F. . . .c.E. 1867 
Marstrand, O. Julius. . . .c.E. 1882 
Martin, A. K., c.E. 1907, B.s. 1909 

*Martin, Charles C c.E. 1856 

*Martin, Jesse A c.E. 1900 

Martin, John L c.E. 1894 

*Martin, William H c.E. 1856 

Martinez, Eladio A c.E. 1907 

Martinez, Jesus C m.e. 19 13 

Martinez, Manuel C. . . .C.E, 19 10 

Martins, Jose C c.E, 1886 

Maruri, Alberto c.E, 1913 

Mason, William P c.E. 1874 

*Masses, Jose D c.E. 1882 

*Masten, Cornelius S. . . .C.E. 1850 
Masters, Perrin M C.E. 19 14 

*Matas, Ramon .t.e. i860 

*Mather, Charles R m.e. 1870 

Matlaw, Isaac S c.E. 1905 

*Matsmoto, Souichiro. . . .C.E. 1876 

Matteson, Park F c.E. 1908 

Matthews, Irving E c.E. 1887 

Maude, Harvey T c.E. 191 1 

Mauldin, Thomas S C.E. 1891 

Maxwell, John W C.E. 1910 

*Maxwell, William B c.E. 1875 

May, G. Earl c.E. 1912 

*May, John E c.E. 1846 

Mayer, Eugene S C.E. 1908 

Mayott, Clarence W. . . .e.e. 191 i 

McBride, John C.E. 1907 

McBride, William C.E. 1899 

McCarthy, George T C.E. 1912 

McCartney, W. M C.E. 1894 

*McCaughin, John C.E. 1842 

McCauley, Frank W. . . .C.E. 1909 

*McClellan., Henry G c.E. 1869 

McClellan, Philip F C.E. 1903 

McClellan, William c.E, 191 1 



* Deceased, 



APPENDIX X 



249 



NAME. DEGREE. CLASS. 

McClelland, Wilson c.e. 1886 

McClintock, Hugh P. . . .c.E. 1880 

McClure, Donald C e.e. 1913 

McCollum, John A c.E. 1898 

McComb, Edward C c.E. 1887 

McCord, William S c.E. 188 1 

McCorkindale, Roy E. . .c.E. 19 14 

McCrory, Sol c.E. 1903 

McCune, Frederick S. .. .c.E. 1909 

McDonough, Charles J. .c.E. 1897 

McGee, Charles C c.E. 1906 

McGiffert, Crosby J c.E. 1909 

McGiffert, James c.E. 1891 

McGuire, James C c.E. 1888 

McHarg, Arthur V. A. . .c.E. 1892 

McKaig, Alvin W e.e. 1914 

McKay, George A c.E. 1894 

*McKee, Aaron G c.E. 1836 

*McKee, Robert G c.e. 1835 

McKelvy, Jeremiah D.. .c.E. 1914 

McKelvy, William E c.E. 1896 

McKinney, Samuel P. . .c.E. 1884 

*McKnew, William H.... C.E. 1878 

McLaren, Daniel C.E. 1878 

McLean, John c.E. 1876 

*McManus, P.C.W.T.,A.B.(r.s.)i826 

McMillan, Charles c.E. i860 

McMullen, Frederick E. .m.e. 1914 

McMullen, William A. . .c.e. 1914 

McNaugher, David W.. .c.E. 1885 

McNaughton, Wm. C. . .c.e. 1914 

*McNeill, Elmore B c.E. 1881 

*Mearns, Louis Z c.E. 1909 

Megear, Alter c.E. 1868 

Melchert, A. C. d'A c.E. 1886 

Menard, George A C.E. 1910 

Mendoza, V. G. de c.E. 1888 

*Menocal, A. G c.E. 1862 

*Menocal, Arturo N c.E. 1881 

*Merian, Henry W C.E. 1858 

Meron, Leo A C.E. 1910 

*Merrifield, Paul S C.E. 1878 



NAME. DEGREE. CLASS. 

Merritt, Charles E C.E. 1909 

Mesnard, Howard W C.E. 1897 

*Metcalf, J. B A.B.(r.s.) 1829 

*Metcalf, William c.E. 1858 

*MiIler, Athol M., Jr c.E. 1895 

Miller, Harold J c.E. 1912 

Miller, H. Eugene c.E. 1909 

Miller, Leverett S c.E. 1885 

Miller, Malcolm S c.E. 1909 

Miller, P. S b.s. 1897 

*Miller, S. V. R C.E. 1841 

Miller, Wm. J c.E. 1904 

*Millet, Albert H c.E. 1867 

Milliman, Charles F c.E. 1908 

MiUington, Howard G. . .C.E. 1908 

Mills, Hiram F c.E. 1856 

Mills, William W C.E. 1868 

*Mimmack, Oliver C c.E. 1898 

Mincher, J. Edward c.E. 1909 

Mitchell, Horace H c.E. 1887 

Miter, Harry F C.E. 1899 

*Moak, Joseph A c.e. 1854 

Molina, Ricardo V c.E. 1887 

Moliner, Julio S *. . .c.E. 1888 

Monteagudo, Humberto, C.E. 1913 

Montero, Julio D C.E. 1905 

Montfort, Barret C.E. 1913 

Montgomery, Neil R. . . .c.E. 1885 

*Montony, Liberty G. . . .c.E. 1890 

Moore, Arthur E m.e. 1912 

Moore, Frank L c.E. 1867 

Moore, George R c.e. 1909 

Moore, George W., Jr. . .c.E. 1914 

Moore, Marshall G c.E. 1884 

Moore, Samuel A c.E. 1901 

Morey, Edward F c.E. 191 1 

Morgan, Charles N c.E. 1906 

Morgan, Jas. W C.E. 1903 

Morris, Charles W., Jr., c.E. 1904 

Morris, T. O'N C.E. 1870 

*Morse, Henry G C.E. 1871 

*Morton, Nathaniel C.E. 1850 



* Deceased. 



250 



APPENDIX X 



NAME. DEGREE. CLASS. 

Mosher, Wilson A c.e. 191 i 

Mosley, Frederick C.E. 1910 

*Moss, Charles H c.e. 1867 

Moylan, Leonard K C.E. 1909 

*Mullin, A. T. E c.e. 1861 

*Mullin, Joseph C.E. 1869 

*Munoz del Monte, A. C.c.e. 1886 
Munoz del Monte, L. E. c.e. 1888 
Murdock, Charles W. . . .c.e. 1912 

Murphy, Edward T c.e. 1905 

*Murphy, J. W. . .b.n.s., c.e. 1847 
Murnane, Thomas A. . . .c.e. 1913 

Murray, John C C.E. 1909 

Murray, Jo D C.E. 1892 

Murray, Patrick H c.e. 1904 

Murray, Robert J c.e. 1900 

Murtland, De Loss c.e. 1908 

Myer, Edgar A c.e. 1901 

Myers, Chester J c.e. 1900 

Myers, John H c.E. 1893 

*Mynderse, Edward C.E. 1838 

Myton, John D C.E. 1905 

Naranjo, Francisco R. . .C.E. 1863 

Nathan, Harry C.E. 1907 

*Neal, Robert C m.e. 1870 

Neel, Charles H C.E. 1906 

*Neilson, Robert C.E. 1861 

*Nelles, George T c.E. 1877 

Nellis, Dan H C.E. 1892 

Nellis, Russell V c.e. 1912 

Neuhaus, Hugo V c.e. 1905 

Nevarez, Jose R C.E. 1907 

Newbold, Thomas E. . . .c.e. 1882 

Newton, John P c.E. 1903 

Nial, William A c.e. 1899 

*Nichols, Edward B.s. 1871 

*Nichols, Othniel F c.E. 1868 

Nicholson, William A. . .c.E. 1877 

Nickel, George D M.E. 1870 

*Nickerson, J. G b.n.s. 1848 

Nier, John W C.E. 1876 

Nor Dell, C. Eric C.E. 1912 



NAME. DEGREE. CLASS. 

Norris, Aleck J c.E. 1886 

North, Earl P c.E. 1904 

Norton, James G c.E. 1912 

*Northrup, Arthur L c.E. 1900 

Nugent, Paul C c.e. 1892 

*Oakley, James c.E. 1837 

*Oatman, Orlin A.B.(r.s.) 1827 

O'Brien, Richard V c.E. 1912 

O'Brien, Robert J., Jr. . .B.s. 1900 
O'Brien, Thomas S., Jr. .c.E. 1909 

O'Brien, William F c.E. 1901 

O'Connell, John J. F. . . .e.e. 1913 
Oliver, Frank G c.e. 1906 

*01mstead, A. B. . .c.e., b.n.s. 1837 
Olmstead, Harry L c.E. 1894 

*01mstead, L. G A.B.(r.s.) 1830 

Ohphant, E. C c.E. 1903 

*01yphant, H. V C.E. 1868 

Ortega, Angel A. P c.E. 19 13 

Orth, Edward L c.E. 1899 

*Osborn, Charles M C.E. 1853 

Osborn, Frank C c.e. 1880 

*Osborn, George K. .A.B.(r.s.) 1830 

Osborn, Kenneth H c.E. 1908 

Ostrander, Vibert L c.e. 1908 

*Ostrom, John c.E. 1857 

O'Sullivan, T. J. A c.E. 1910 

Otto, John B c.E. 1871 

Overbaugh, Elbert S. . . .C.E. 191 1 
Overocker, Daniel W. . . .C.E. 1907 

Packard, Ralph G c.e. 1864 

Padron, Augustin m.e. 1914 

*Painter, A. E. W c.e. 1863 

Painter, Edward L C.E. 1884 

Painter, Herbert B C.E. 189 1 

Palmer, Miguel C c.e. 1894 

Palsgrove, Grant K M.E. 191 1 

*Pardee, Ario, Jr C.E. 1858 

Pardee, Calvin B.s. i860 

Parish, Wainwright C.E. 1888 

*Park, Austin F. . .c.e., b.n.s. 1840 
Parker, Charles M C.E. 1889 



* Deceased. 



APPENDIX X 



251 



NAME. DEGREE. CLASS. 

Parker, Earle D c.e. 191 i 

*Parkinson, John B C.E. 1876 

Parks, Albert F c.e. 1891 

Parks, Charles W c.e. 1884 

Parks, Ralph N c.e. 1910 

Parrish, Edward c.e. 1870 

Parsons, Charles W c.e. 1909 

Parsons, LeRoy U c.e. 1904 

*Parsons, Samuel B c.e. 1840 

Partenfelder, Gustav A. .c.e. 1911 

Parthesius, Henry J. . . .m.e. 1912 

Parthesius, Philip H. . . .C.E. 1904 

*Paterson, S. V. R c.e. 1836 

Patten, Henry B c.e. 1878 

*Pattison, Harry D C.e. 1874 

Paul, Leland E c.e. 1914 

*Pearce, Allen C.E. 1838 

Pearl, James W c.e. 1880 

Pease, Charles S c.e. 1876 

*Peck, Hollam L C.E. 1849 

Peck, John C C.E. 1908 

Peck, William A c.e. 1869 

^Peebles, Robert C c.e. 1869 

Peek, Jesse H c.e. 1912 

*Pelaez, Manuel A C.E. 1873 

Pelletier, Daniel S C.E. 19 12 

*Pelton, William S.. .A.B.(r.s.) 1826 

*Pemberton, John C.E. i860 

*Penfield, James A b.n.s. 1846 

*Percy, James R C.E. 1859 

Perkins, Charles P C.E. 1866 

Perrin, Leonard A c.E. 19 12 

Perry, John S C.E. 191 1 

Perry, Thornton T C.E. 1885 

Peterson, B. Walker c.E. 1873 

Petteys, Jay D c.E. 191 1 

*Pettibone, C. Vallette. . .c.e. 1867 

Pfau, Julius W c.E. 1899 

Pfohl, Harold F. L c.E. 1913 

Pfohl, Leland J c.E. 1913 

Phelps, Guy M c.E. 1909 

*Philip, John H A.B.(r.s.) 1832 



NAME. DEGREE. CLASS. 

*Philip, John V. N b.n.s. 1839 

*Pierce, George H c.E. 1858 

*Pierpont, John m.e. 1869 

*Pike, Samuel J A.B.(r.s.) 1830 

*Piraja, J. R. da S., Jr. . .c.E. 1865 

Pitz, Hugo E c.E. 1904 

Piatt, Elbert S b.s. 1899 

Piatt, Frank E C.E. 1879 

*Platt, Joseph C C.E. 1866 

*Platt, Merritt A.B.(r.s.) 1830 

Plogsted, Walter J c.e. 1903 

Plumb, James Ives c.e. 1886 

Plummer, George C C.E. 1892 

*Plympton, George W c.e. 1847 

Podmore, Jas. C c.e. 1903 

Podmore, John M C.E. 1896 

Polanco, Benigno C c.E. 1904 

Polk, Armour C C.E. 1903 

*Pomeroy, Halsey B c.E. 1887 

*Pomeroy, Henry, c.e., b.n.s. 1841 

Pond, Frank c.E. 1875 

Pope, Lathrop C C.E. 1913 

Popp, Harry E m.e. 1912 

Popp, William J C.E. 1909 

Porter, Chester D c.E. 1906 

Porter, Frank D c.E. 1906 

*Post, James H c.E. 1839 

*Potter, Charles F c.E, 1878 

*Potter, Clarkson N c.E. 1843 

Potter, Henry W c.E. 1879 

*Potter, George C c.E. 1839 

Potter, Winfield S c.E. 1890 

*Potts, Benjamin C c.E. 1863 

Powell, Ambrose V c.E. 1868 

Powell, J. R C.E., b.n.s. 1846 

Powell, Marcus c.E. 1889 

*Powell, William J c.E. 1839 

*Powers, Joseph A c.E. 1880 

Powless, William H c.E. 1874 

Pratt, Arthur W C.E. 1904 

*Pratt, Charles S C.E. 1883 

*Pratt, Ira R c.e., b.n.s. 1842 



* Deceased. 



252 



APPENDIX X 



NAME. DEGREE. CLASS. 

Pratt, Robert J c.e. 1883 

Pratt, William M C.E. 1857 

*Prescott, Richard M.E. 1871 

Price, Victor T c.e. 1888 

*Prime, Alanson J. . .A.B.(r.s.) 1829 

Prior, John M c.e. 1909 

*Pruyne, DeForest c.e. 1876 

Puffer, Louis B c.e. 1909 

Pujals, Francisco C.E. 1909 

*Putnam, George C.E. 1838 

*Quackenbush, J. H c.e. 1856 

*Quest, George F c.e. 1904 

Quinn, Michael J C.E. 1913 

*Quintana, Manuel P. . . .C.E. 1885 

Quirk, James F C.E. 1901 

Raban, Reginald J c.e. 1904 

Rabe, Louis F c.e. 1902 

*Rae, Charles W c.e. 1866 

Raht, Adolphus W c.e. 1877 

Rainsford, Thos. H C.E. 1881 

RalH, Victor P m.e. 1913 

*Ralston, John B c.e. 1888 

Ramsay, David. c.e. 1903 

Randolph, John H c.e. 1870 

Rankin, John Q c.e. 1904 

Ranney, Charles G c.e. 1904 

Ranney, Marcus H c.e. 1885 

Ranney, Willet G c.e. 1890 

Raster, Walther C.E. 1900 

*Ray, Francis A c.e. 1895 

*Raymond, Charles T. . . .c.e. 1879 

Raymond, Harvey J . . . .c.e. 19 14 

Raymond, Thomas C. . .c.e. 1865 

Raynolds, James D c.e. 1870 

Raynsford, George M. . .c.e. 1906 

Redfield, James A. S. . . .c.e. 1898 

Reed, Charles C c.e. 1907 

*Reed, James c.e. 1873 

Reed, Lloyd J b.s. 1914 

Reed, Paul L c.e. 1894 

Reed, Robert B c.e. 1907 

Reeves, David c.e. 1872 



NAME. degree. CLASS. 

Reeves, William H c.e. 1873 

Reichard, Wade H c.e. 1905 

Reilly, J. R B.s. 1890 

*Reinholdt, K. Oake P. . .c.e. 1890 
Reinicker, Charles E. . . .c.e. 1908 
Rementer, George L. . . .c.e. 1884 

Renshaw, Alfred H c.e. 1883 

Reyes, Octavio M c.e. 1895 

Reynders, J. V. W C.E. 1886 

Reynolds, Edwin G., Jr., c.e. 191 i 
Reynolds, Francis B. . . .c.e. 1904 
Reynolds, Winfred E. .. .C.E. 1903 

Rice, Dan, Jr c.e, 1892 

Rice, Edward Y e.e. 19 ii 

*Rice, Joseph G c.e. 1858 

*Rice, L. Frederick c.e. 1858 

*Rice, Spencer V c.e. 1871 

Rich, Edward D c.e. 1895 

Richardson, Harry L. . . .c.e. 1875 
Richardson, Norman D.. C.E. 1913 

Ricketts, Palmer C c.e. 1875 

Rickey, James W c.e. 1894 

*Riddell, John L. . . .A.B.(r.s.) 1829 

*Rider, J. B b.n.s., c.e. 1844 

Rider, Joseph B c.e. 1889 

*Rider, Thomas B c.e. 1845 

Ridgely, William B c.e. 1879 

Riggs, Stephen c.e. 1912 

Riker, George N C.E. 1908 

Rinearson, Horace W . . . C.E. 1909 
*Ripley, Thomas C. .A.B.(r.s.) 1828 

Roberts, George b.s. 1888 

*Roberts, Geo. B. .c.e., b.n.s. 1849 
*Roberts, Percival, b.n.s., c.e. 1846 

Roberts, Stanley A c.e. 1905 

Robinson, A. W C.E. 1897 

Robinson, Drew K b.s. 1897 

*Robison, John A b.n.s. 1838 

*Rocha, Alfredo F. da c.e. 1891 

Rocha, E. da Dias c.e. 1891 

Roche, Alfred E c.e. 1907 

Rock, Chalmer R e.e. 191 i 



* Deceased. 



APPENDIX X 



253 



NAME. DEGREE. CLASS. 

Rock, Paul C E.E. 1912 

Rockefeller, S. V. N c.e. 1908 

*Roc.kenstyre, Porter C.E. 1849 

Rockwell, James V c.e. 1898 

Rockwood, Arthur J. . . .c.e. 1887 
Rockwood, Charles F. . .C.E. 1894 

Roebling, Charles G c.e. 1871 

Roebling, John A c.e. 1888 

Roebling, W. A c.e. 1857 

Rogers, Charles E c.e. 1896 

Rogers, Clarence M C.E. 1903 

*Rogers, Horace N c.e. 1837 

Rogers, William A c.e. 1909 

Rood, Henry M C.E. 1885 

*Root, Bennett F A.B.(r.s.) 1826 

*Ropes, Charles F m.e. 1871 

Rosa, George de la C.E. 1886 

Rosa, Luis de la c.e. 1885 

Rose, Alston O c.e. 1911 

Rosenberg, Friedrich. . . .c.E. 1882 

*Rossman, Augustus c.E. 1847 

*Rothwell, Richard P. . .c.E. 1858 

Rousseau, Harry H c.E. 1891 

Rousseau, W. W., Jr. . . .c.E. 1895 

*Rowland, Frank L c.e. 1875 

*Rowland, Henry A c.E. 1870 

Roy, Charles P c.E. 1893 

Roy, Lawrence c.E. 1891 

Royce, Harrison A c.E. 1859 

Royer, Harry B C.E. 19 12 

Rubio, Francisco c.E. 1907 

Rudd, Edward I c.E. 1905 

Ruggles, Charles H c.E. 1892 

Rumpf, Charles P c.e. 19 12 

Rummel, Philip C, Jr. . .e.e. 1914 

Rumsey, Carroll L c.e. 1898 

Ruple, Commodore P. . .c.e. 1881 

*Russell, Nathaniel E. . . .c.e. 1870 

Russell, Samuel R c.e. 1904 

Ruth, Edgar K c.e. 1909 

Ryan, James A e.e. 1913 

*Rynning, Albert J C.E. 1905 



NAME. DEGREE. CLASS. 

Sabbaton, Frederic A. .. .C.E. 1892 

Sabin, Alpheus T c.e. 1878 

*Sage, Russell, 2d c.e. 1859 

*Sager, Abram A.B.(r.s.) 1831 

*Salisbury, James H.. . .B.N. s. 1846 
Salisbury, Richard H. . . .c.E. 19 14 

Sallans, George A c.E. 1904 

Salle, George V c.E. 1904 

Salles, Joaquim de c.E. 1879 

*Saltar, John, Jr c.E. 1867 

Samper, Julio c.e. 1880 

Sanchez, Rafael G c.e. 1904 

Sanders, Francis N C.E. 189 1 

*Sanders, William S.A.B.(r.s.) 1833 
Sanderson, Edwin N. . . .C.E. 1886 

*Sanderson, J. G C.E. 1858 

*Sanford, Edward. . .A.B.(r.s.) 1827 

Sariol, Pompeyo C.E. 1867 

Satterlee, Levi H E.E. 1913 

Saulles, Arthur B, de. . . .B.s. 1859 

Sawyer, Guy H c.E. 1904 

Sax, Percival M c.E. 1890 

Saxe, V. R. P c.E. 1905 

*Saylor, Francis H c.E. 1867 

Scanlon, James F c.E. 1909 

Scarborough, Francis W.C.E. 1888 

Schade, Charles G c.E. 1892 

Schaeffer, John S C.E. 1866 

Schedler, Carl W c.E. 1910 

Scheer, Albert,- Jr e.e. 1913 

Scheer, C. H. E ; .e.e. 1914 

Schermerhorn, H. O c.E. 1903 

Schermerhorn, Richard. .C.E. 1871 
Schneider, William W. . .C.E. 19 12 

Schoen, Harry H C.E. 1911 

' Schoepf, Theodore H. . . .C.E. 1898 

*Schott, C. Ridgely c.E. 1868 

Schulte, Gerd H c.e. 1908 

Schultze, Paul c.e. 1891 

Schumann, Carl J C.e. 1902 

Schutz, Wallace S M.E. 1914 

Schwartz, Fred W B.s. 1905 



* Deceased. 



254 



APPENDIX X 



NAME. DEGREE. CLASS. 

Scobey, Jesse C c.e. 1895 

Scott, Charles H m.e. 1870 

Scott, Charles K c.e. 1913 

Scott, Horace L c.e. 1909 

Scott, John K C.E. 1906 

Scott, Walter V c.e. 1909 

Scullen, Anthony J c.E. 191 1 

Searle, Robert A c.e. 1909 

Searles, William H c.e. i860 

Sebast, Frederick M . . . .e.e. 1913 

*Sedley, Henry C.E. 1848 

See, George C C.E. 1905 

Seibert, Charles J C.E. 191 1 

Seitz, Cecil F c.e. 1912 

*Selden, Samuel F C.E. 1886 

Selig, Joseph E c.e. 1913 

Seligman, Albert J C.E. 1878 

Semans, Frank W m.e. 1914 

Seminario, Juan C.E. 1878 

*Serrano, Aurelio C.E. i860 

Seymour, Edward D. . . .e.e. 1912 

Shankey, Joseph I C.E. 1912 

Shankland, Edward C. . .C.E. 1878 

Shankland, Ralph G. . . .C.E. 1909 

Shannahan, John N c.e. 1894 

Sharp, Henry S c.e. 1913 

Sharp, Howard O C.E. 1914 

Sharp, William G C.E. 1879 

Shaw, Henry C c.e. 1876 

*Shaw, Richard E c.e. 1878 

Sheafer, Paul T c.e. 191 i 

Sheal, Robert E c.e. 1894 

Shearer, Welcome H. . . .m.e. 1912 

Sheffield, John c.e. 1891 

Shepherd, Willard F. . . .c.e. 1878 

Sherman, William B. . . .c.e. 1872 

Sherrerd, Morris R c.e. 1886 

Sherrerd, Samuel H c.e. 1907 

*Sherrill, Rush A.B.(r.s.) 1830 

Sherwood, Aaron W c.e. 1905 

Shields, Howard H B.s. 1886 

Shields, James W C.E. 1890 



NAME. DEGREE. CLASS. 

Shoemaker, Harry c.e. 1904 

Shorey, Thomas R c.e. 1911 

Sias, Robert M C.E. 1905 

Sibbald, Charles T. A. . .c.e. 1912 

Sibbald, John O c.e. 1906 

Sibley, Stanley D c.e. 19 14 

Sikes, George R c.e. 1886 

Sill, Frederick DeV c.e. 1907 

*Silliman, Justus M m.e. 1870 

Simonds, George L c.e. 1901 

*Simpson, Benjamin V. . .c.e. 1879 

Simpson, William S B.s. i860 

Singer, Robert R c.e. 1877 

Sipperley, Charles L. . . .e.e. 1913 

Skilton, George S c.e. 1868 

*Skilton, James A b.n.s. 1845 

*Skilton, Julius A b.n.s. 1849 

*Slade, Israel c.e., b.n.s. 1836 

Slagle, W. C. H c.e. 1892 

Slatcher, Alfred G C.E. 1908 

*Sloan, Robert I C.E. 1859 

*Small, Thos. B. . .b.n.s., c.e. 1843 

Small, Warren D m.e. 1912 

*Smalley, D. S. . . .b.n.s., c.e. 1835 

Smith, Charles E c.e. i860 

Smith, Charles R C.E. 1878 

*Smith, David C. . . .A.B.(r.s.) 1833 

Smith, Felix R. R C.E. i860 

*Smith, Frank G C.E. 1859 

Smith, H. DeWitt c.e. 1875 

Smith, H. Dutton C.E. 1912 

Smith, Harmon M c.e. 1892 

Smith, Harrison c.e. 1905 

Smith, James A c.e. 1912 

Smith, Jerome F c.e. 1913 

Smith, Kirby C.E. 1910 

Smith, Milo A C.E. 1867 

Smith, Norman M C.E. 1909 

Smith, Pemberton c.e. 1888 

Smith, S. Kedzie c.e. 1886 

*Smith, T. Guilford C.E. 1861 

*Smith, Thaddeus S c.e. 1861 



1 



* Deceased. 



APPENDIX X 



255 



NAME. DEGREE. CLASS. 

*Smith, Theodore S., Jr. .C.E. 1868 

Smyth, Arthur P C.E. 19 10 

Snyder, Arthur C C.E. 191 1 

Snyder, Bert M C.E. 1914 

Snyder, Donald D c.E. 1912 

*Snyder, Henry R c.E. 1837 

Sola, Francisco de, y B. .c.E. 1905 

Solomon, Gabriel R C.E. 1902 

Sooysmith, Charles C.E. 1876 

Soper, George A B.s. 1895 

*Sosa, Pedro J c.E. 1873 

Sothers, Edward m.e. 1870 

Southard, Herbert c.E. 1912 

Spalding, Ralph D c.E. 1913 

*Spearman, Francis C.E. 1884 

Spencer, Herbert C.E. 1903 

Spengler, John H C.E. 1909 

Sperling, Thomas G C.E. 19 14 

Sperry, Earl E C.E. 1904 

*Springer, Lewis H c.E. 1887 

Sproat, Frank R c.E. 19 12 

Squires, John C.E. 1869 

Stahl, Frederick A c.E. 1914 

*Stannard, Harry E c.E. 1896 

Stanley, Walter P c.E. 1907 

Stanton, Chas. B c.E. 1903 

*Stanton, Lodowick, Jr. . .c.E. 1841 

Stanton, Wilbor D c.E. 1904 

*Starbuck, George H c.E. 1840 

Stark, George H C.E. 1913 

Starr, Arthur B C.E. 1869 

*Stearns, George A c.E. 1849 

Stearns, Irving A m.e. 1868 

*Stebbins, Orrin. . .C.E., b.n.s. 1839 

Steele, William M c.E. 1901 

Steenburgh, Chas. G. . . .c.E. 1904 

Stein, Benjamin c.E. 191 1 

Steinberg, Louis J c.E. 1913 

Steinle, John G c.E. 1907 

Steinacker, Theodore. . . .c.E. 1873 

Stevens, Dana E C.E. 19 13 

Stevens, Frank J e.e. 1913 



NAME. degree. CLASS. 

Stevenson, Ervin B c.E. 1907 

*Stevenson, Holland N. . .c.E. 1866 

Stevenson, John D c.E. 1906 

*Stevenson, P. E. . . .A.B.(r.s.) 1830 

Stewart, Howard G c.E. 1908 

Stieve, William M c.E. 1909 

Stillman, Chester H c.E. 1906 

*Stilson, William B c.E. 1867 

*Stites, Archer C C.E. 1887 

Stodder, George T c.E. 1863 

Stone, Cyrus R C.E. 1867 

Stone, Leverett C e.e. 19 14 

Stone, Lowell H c.E. 1869 

*Storrs, Abel A.B.(r.s.) 1831 

Storrs, Arthur H c.E. 1883 

Stow, Mulford c.E. 1907 

Stowell, Charles F c.E. 1879 

Stowell, Ellery c.E. 1872 

Strasmer, C. F., Jr c.E. 1912 

*Stratton, Norman c.E. 1838 

*Strawbridge, W. C m.e. 1870 

Street, John Z c.E. 1912 

Strenge, Karl O C.E. 1909 

Stribling, Ben A c.E. 1886 

Stringfellow, Henry A. . .c.E. 19 10 

Stroud, Lamont R C.E. 1899 

Stuart, Alfred A c.E. 1879 

Stutz, Louis P C.E. 1909 

Stutzer, Herman c.E. 1878 

*Suffern, Edward c.E. 1835 

Sugden, Clarence H c.E. 1889 

Sullivan, Charles J C.E. 1913 

Sullivan, Sylvester C. . . .C.E. 19 14 

Summer, Bernard C.E. 1908 

Summers, George J C.E. 191 1 

Sutermeister, A. H C.E. 1892 

^Sutherland, M. A c.E. 1861 

*Sutherland, S. W C.E. 1846 

Swain, Donald B m.e. 19 12 

Swensson, Otto J C.E. 1909 

Swift, Alexander J c.E. 1872 

Sydow, John A c.E. 19 14 



* Deceased. 



256 



APPENDIX X 



NAME. DEGREE. CLASS. 

Sykes, George W c.e. 1893 

*Symington, W. N C.E. 1861 

Tapia, Ramon A c.e. 1908 

Taylor, David B c.e. 1909 

*Taylor, Gilbert T., C.E., b.n.s. 1844 

Taylor, Harry M C.E. 19 ID 

Taylor, Henry G C.E. 19 13 

*Taylor, Norman A c.e. 1902 

Taylor, Presley M c.e. 1908 

Taylor, Roger c.e. 1899 

Teiper, Frederic C c.e. 191 i 

Tenney, Arthur A c.e. 1904 

Teran, Cesar c.e. 1895 

Terashima, Toyojiro. . . .c.e. 1895 

Terrell, John A e.e. 1913 

Tessier, Rudolph F C.E. 1905 

Thacher, Edwin C.E, 1863 

Thackray, George E. . . .c.e. 1878 

Thiessen, Carl M c.e. 19 13 

Thiessen, Henry L c.e. 1909 

*Thomas, Joseph. . . .A.B.(r.s.) 1830 

Thomas, Reuben D c.e. 1910 

Thomas, Samuel R c.e. 1891 

Thomas, William H C.E. 1891 

Thomas, William S C.E. 1896 

*Thompson, A. A b.n.s, 1838 

Thompson, Alfred W C.E. 1907 

Thompson, Arthur F. .. .C.E. 1910 

Thompson, A. W C.E. 1892 

*Thompson, Charles B. . .B.s. i860 

Thompson, Clark W. . . .C.E. 1887 

Thompson, D.B.,c.E.'o7, E.E. 191 1 

*Thompson, E. Ray C.E. 1876 

Thompson, Gordon S. . . . c.e. 1905 

Thompson, H. G c.e. 1898 

*Thompson, James G.. .B.N.S. 1848 

*Thompson, John C c.e. 1865 

Thompson, Mackey J . . .c.e. 1893 

Thompson, N. F c.e. 1907 

Thompson, W. A c.e. 1869 

*Thomson, James P c.e. 1888 

Thomson, William S. . . .c.e. 1902 



NAME. DEGREE. CLASS. 

Thorn, Charles S e.e. 1913 

Tonnelier, John E c.E. 191 1 

*Tibbits, George C.E. 1841 

Tiernan, Austin K c.E. 1894 

Tighe, Stanley R c.E. 1907 

*Tilghman, James. B.N.S., c.E. 1839 

Tompkins, Daniel A. . . .c.E. 1873 

Tompkins, John A. B . . .c.E. 1879 

Tone, Sumner L. R c.E. 1886 

Toole, Ignatius V c.E. 1912 

Torkington, Isaac C.E. 1887 

Torre, Alberto de la c.E. 1897 

Touceda, Enrique c.E. 1887 

Towle, Charles B B.s. 1898 

Towne, Walter J c.e. 1895 

Townsend, Frank T C.E. 1904 

Townsend, John C.E. 1879 

*Trafton, Gilman C.E. 1856 

Travell, Warren B c.E. 1894 

Travis, Charles B c.E. 1896 

Treat, Robert D c.E. 1910 

Trevino, Virgilio C.E. 1912 

*Trevor, Francis N c.E. 1866 

Triol, Edward K. . .' C.E. 1906 

Troeger, Maurice L C.E. 1909 

*Truji]lo, Francisco C.E. 1857 

Tsang, Lem Sec C.E. 1912 

Tuller, William H C.E. 1913 

Tuller, William N C.E. 1908 

TuUock, Seymour W. . . .C.E. 1877 

Tumbridge, John W C.E. 189 1 

Tumbridge, Stanley S . . . C.E. 1900 

*Tuomey, Michael b.n.s. 1835 

*Turknett, Robert G C.E. 1886 

*Turner, Benjamin C.E. 1849 

*Turner, Benjamin M C.E. 1888 

Turner, Daniel L C.E. 1891 

Turner, John P C.E. 1904 

Turner, Raymond K. . . .C.E. 1913 

Turner,, Richard E C.E. 1905 

Tuthill, DeWitt S C.E. 1904 

Tuthill, James F c.E. 1898 



■ Deceased. 



APPENDIX X 



257 



NAME. DEGREE. CLASS. 

Tuttle, Frank W c.e. 1878 

Tvete, Carl O C.E. 1905 

*Tweeddale, William C.E. 1853 

Ubsdell, John A., Jr C.E. 1889 

*Underwood, John C C.E. 1862 

*Underwood, J. R C.E. 1875 

Uribe, H. German C.E. 1893 

Utley, Charles H m.e. 1869 

Valdes, Ciprian E C.E. 1913 

*Van Bergen, R. H C.E. 1841 

Van Buren, John D C.E. i860 

Van Buren, Robert C.E. 1864 

Van Burk, Louis C.E. 1912 

Van de Carr, Chas. R. . .C.E. 1910 

Van Denburgh, O. A., Jr.,M.E. 1913 

Vandervoort, B. F c.e. 1908 

Van Derwerken, E. G. . .C.E. 1909 

Van Duyne, Wilmer C .c.e. 1907 

Van Eman, Kenneth W. .C.E. 1913 

Van Hoesen, Edmund F.c.E. 1878 

*Van Ness, Sherman, c.e. ,b.n.s. 1836 

*Van Orman, Elmore S. . .C.E. 1899 

*Van Rensselaer, Alex,A.B.(r.s.)i833 

van Rensselaer, Allen. . .C.E. 1905 

*Van Rensselaer, P., b.n.s.,c.e. 1839 

*VanSchaick, A. P C.E. 1839 

*Van Sinderen, A . . b.n.s., c.e. 1847 

Van Zile, Harry L c.e. 1884 

Varona, I. M. de C.E. 1863 

Vaughan, Edgar C.E. 1894 

*Vaughan, Frederick W. .C.E, 1863 

Vega, Modesto de la. . . .c.e. 1907 

Verner, Henry W C.E. 1881 

Verner, Morris S C.E. 1876 

Vidal, Jose A c.e. 1912 

Vier, Henry C.E. 1883 

Villa, Miguel C.E. 1908 

Vining, Merritt A c.e. 1913 

Vining, Roy N e.e. 1912 

*Viscarrondo, L. J. de. . . .c.e. 1859 

Volcker, Paul A C.E. 191 1 

Voorhees, Henry B c.e. 1896 



NAME. DEGREE. CLASS. 

* Voorhees, Herman c.e. 1873 

Voorhees, Paul C.E. 1884 

Voorhees, Theodore C.E. 1869 

Vosburgh, James C c.e. 1914 

*Vought, Wm. G., C.E., b.n.s. 1840 

Vroom, Peter D c.e. 1862 

Waddell, James A c.e. 19 13 

Waddell, John A. L c.e. 1875 

Waddell, Montgomery. . .c.e. 1884 

Waddell, Needham E . . . c.e. 1908 

Waddell, Robert S c.e. 1903 

*Wade, James c.e. 1842 

Wagner, Richard G C.E. 1887 

Wagner, Sanford M C.E. 1912 

Wainwright, J. T C.E. 1875 

*Waite, Christopher C. . . .C.E. 1864 

Waite, Guy B c.e. 1888 

*Walbridge, Russell D . . .c.e. 1871 

*Walbridge, T. Chester. . .c.e. 1873 

Walbridge, Thomas H. . .c.e. 1876 

Wallbridge, William G.. .C.E. 1877 

Walker, Melville A c.e. 19 12 

*Walker, William W c.e. 1856 

*Walker, William W c.e. 1886 

Wall, Charles A., Jr c.e. 1913 

^Wallace, Gurdon B c.e. 1840 

*Wallace, James P c.e. 1837 

Wallace, William M c.e. 1892 

Waller, William c.e. 1879 

Walsh, George S c.e. 1894 

Walsh, John E c.e. 1909 

Walsh, Leo F c.e. 1912 

Walsh, Thorpe T c.e. 1909 

Walter, Albert G c.e. 191 i 

*Walter, Alfred c.e. 1872 

Walter, Frederick J c.e. 1910 

Waltz, Joseph E c.e. 1877 

Ward, Charles R C.E. 1895 

Ward, Frederick c.e. 1901 

Ward, George M c.e. 1907 

Ward, Vincent B c.e. 1886 

Ward, Vincent M c.e. 1912 



Deceased. 



258 



APPENDIX X 



NAME. DEGREE. CLASS. 

*Ware, R. Willard c.e. 1850 

*Warren, Levi H C.E. 1837 

Warren, Ogle T c.e. 1891 

*Warren, S. Edward c.e. 1851 

Waterbury, Webster E. .c.e. 1910 

Watkins, Clarence B. . . .c.e. 1903 

Watkins, Frank B C.E. 1912 

*Watkins, Hezekiah c.e. 1857 

Watkins, Thomas L c.e. 1907 

*Watriss, George C c.e. 1853 

Watson, John H C.E. 1904 

Watson, Loyall F c.e. 1907 

Watts, John C c.e. 1906 

Way, Thomas L c.e. 1909 

Way, William F M.E. 19 13 

Weaver, Charles J C.E. 1906 

Weaver, Frank R c.e. 1909 

Weber, Charles F e.e. 19 14 

Weber, Daniel R c.e. 1909 

Weber, John L C.E. 1910 

Webster, James J C.E. 19 13 

Weir, Charles G C.E. 1877 

Welch, John F c.e. 1908 

Wellington, George B. . .c.e. 1875 

Wells, Joseph A c.e. 1883 

*Westcott, Amos, .c.e., b.n.s. 1835 

*Weston, Charles L. .A.B.(r.s.) 1827 

Weston, Charles S C.E. 1882 

Wheeler, Fred L c.e. 1894 

Wheeler, Robert O C.E. 19 12 

*Whipple, Charles C.E. 1837 

*Whipple, Stephen T c.e. 1838 

Whistler, Thomas D. . . .C.E. 1881 

White, Alfred T c.e. 1865 

White, Fred B C.E. 1912 

White, James B C.E. 1910 

*White, John H C.E. 1840 

White, Walter A C.E. 19 12 

Whitmore, Homer G. . . .c.e. 1904 

Whitner, James H c.e. 1885 

Whitney, Drake C.E. 1864 

Whitney, William E c.e. 1896 



NAME. DEGREE. CLASS. 

*Whittelsey, P. D A.B.(r.s.) 1834 

Wiedeman, Herman F. . .C.E. 1912 

Wigand, Albert A c.E. 1889 

Wiggins, Charles c.E. 1878 

*Wilde, Nathan R., c.E. , B.N.S. 1836 

Wiley, William H c.e. 1866 

Wilhelm, Eugene B., Jr. .c.E. 1908 

Wilke, Robert F. T c.e. 1907 

Wilkins, Wm. G C.E. 1879 

*WiIkinson, Alfred C.E. 1849 

*Wilkinson, J. F C.E. 1847 

*Wilkinson, Wm A.B.(r.s.) 1830 

Wilkinson, Wm. M C.E. 1910 

Williams, Allen C.E. 1903 

*Wil]iams, CHfton G c.e. 1877 

Williams, Frank I C.E. 1910 

*Williams, James B C.E. 1888 

Williams, Jerome H E.E. 1913 

*Williams, J. Francis C.E. 1883 

Williams, John H c.E. 1913 

*Williams, Norman A. . . .C.E. 1859 
Williams, Parley L., Jr. .C.E. 1900 
Williams, Samuel W. . . .C.E. 1894 

*Williams, S. Wells. .A.B.(r.s.) 1832 
Williams, Theodore H. . .c.E. 1889 

*Wil]iams, W. B c.E. 1835 

Williams, Wynant J C.E. 1905 

Williamson, T. M m.e. 1871 

Willis, Harry A c.E. 1909 

Willson, Frank J m.e. 191 i 

Willson, F. N c.e. 1879 

Wilson, Henry F e.e. 1914 

Wilson, Henry W c.e. 1864 

Wilson, Howard M c.e. 1884 

Wilson, James B c.e. 1899 

*Wilson, James M c.e. 1887 

*Wilson, John A C.E. 1856 

*Wilson, Joseph M C.E. 1858 

Wilson, Loyd c.E. 1903 

*Wingeir, Oswald E C.E. 1886 

*Winslow, Charles W c.e. 1858 

Wirth, John c.e. 1903 



* Deceased. 



APPENDIX X 



259 



NAME. DEGREE. CLASS. 

Witbeck, LeRoy D c.e. 1912 

Witmer, Joseph F C.E. 1887 

Witmer, Victor M C.E. 1887 

Wolf, Benjamin B C.E. 1914 

*Wood, Charles W C.E. 1884 

*Wood, De Volson c.e. 1857 

Wood, Guy S c.e. 1912 

Wood, Stanley c.e. 1914 

♦Woodruff, Joel R C.E. 1847 

*Woodward, F. G C.E. 1839 

*Woodworth, B. B.. .A.B.(r.s.) 1833 

*Woodworth, John, Jr. . . .C.E. 1837 

Wooley, W. Thomas. . . .c.e. 1900 

Worcester, George W. . . .B.s. 1887 

Worden, Charles A C.E. 1904 

Worthington, Charles. . .c.E. 1892 
*Wotkyns, A. A. . .c.E., b.n.s. 1847 

Wright, Carl J E.E. 1913 

Wright, Josiah P C.E. 1900 

Wu, Ng Chee c.e. 1913 

Yardley, Edmund c.e. 1856 

Yates, Preston K c.E. 1880 

Yeager, Frederick A C.E. 1878 

Young, Don Carlos c.e. 1879 



NAME. DEGREE 

* Young, Feramorz L c 



*Young, Frederick S 

Young, Horace G. . 

Young, Jonas F . . . 

Young, William H. 

Yunker, Conrad V. 
*Zabriskie, Aaron J . 

Zahnleiter, Albert W 

Zane-Cetti, Carolus H 

Zayas, Octavius A . . 

Zegarra, Enrique C . 

Zeigler, Henry J . . . . 

Zimmermann, Paul G 



. CLASS. 

E. 1879 

E. 1880 

E. 1877 

E. 1872 

E. 1902 

E. 1900 

E. 1876 

E. 1908 

E. 1897 

E. 1886 

E. 1874 

E. I914 

E. I913 



Number of Graduates to and in- 
cluding the year 19 14- 

Living 

1558 

Dead 

559 



Total . 



2117 



* Deceased. 



INDEX 



Act of Incorporation, 35. 
Acts of Legislature relating to 
School, 35, 67, 81, 89, 101-2-3, 

143, 173- 

Adams', John, opinions on the 
teaching of science, 4. 

Adams, William L., becomes Di- 
rector, 112. 

Admission, requirements for, in 
1854, 100; in i860, 105. 

Advance work in terms, 178. 

Afternoon amusements in the early 
days, 48. 

Agent, Amos Eaton becomes, 65; 
George H. Cook becomes, 92. 

Albany Alumni Association of 
Eastern New York, 156. 

Albright, Joseph J., 114, 121, 175. 

Aldermen, Trustees ex officio, 82. 

Allegheny Portage Railroad Tun- 
nel, ij. 

Alumni, Alphabetical list of. Ap- 
pendix X; associations, 156, 190; 
endowment fund, 174; total 
number of, 167; work of, 1 70-1. 

Alumni Associations, Presidents 
of. Appendix VI. 

Alumni Building, 1 17-18, 147, 

174, 177- . 
American Institute of Electrical 

Engineers, branch, 163. 
American Literary, Scientific, and 

Military Academy, 6. 
American Society of Mechanical 

Engineers, branch, 163. 
Apparatus, for use in Academies, 

61; in the early days, 47; in 

1831-2, 66; value of, in early 

days, 61. 
Approach, granite, head of Broad- 
way, 125-6. 
Assets, in 1828, 172; in 1843, 91; 

in 1846, 91 ; 1902 to 1914, 174-77, 

Appendix, VII. 
Astronomical Observatory, 112- 

14. 
Astronomy, Instructors in 1824- 

1914, Appendix IX. 



Athletics, 130-33, 177; compul- 
sory, 152, 182. 
Avenue B, 122. 
Awards at World's Fairs, 166-7. 



Bachelor of Arts, 41-2, 81, 168; of 
Natural Science, 82, 168; of Sci- 
ence, 96, 103-4, 168. 

Baermann, P. H., 190. 

Baldwin locomotives, 75. 

Band, The, 165. 

Barker, S. W., 190. 

Beck, Lewis C, 11, 24, 43; T. Ro- 
meyn, 10, 11, 37. 

Beman, Rev. N. S. S., 93, 106-7. 

Bement, R. B. C, 150. 

Berlin, Gewerbe Institut at, 72. 

Bibliography of publications re- 
lating to the Institute, 185-90; 
of publications of graduates, 
166. 

Biographical Record, by Henry 
B. Nason, 190. 

Birmingham, Mason College at, 

73- 

Black Rock tunnel, 77. 

Blatchford, Rev. Samuel, 9, 10, 
31, 37, 38, 66; Thomas W., 188. 

Board of Trustees, names of, 1824- 
1914, Appendix IX. 

Boiler House, Proudfit, 1 14-15; 
of 1908, 115, 121, 123, 177. 

Boiler, Alfred P., 190. 

Book Committee, 131. 

Booth, James C, 169. 

Botanical excursions in 1827, 59. 

Botany Instructors, 1824-1914, 
Appendix IX. 

Bowdoin College, early instruction 
in science in, 2. 

Boyden turbines, 76. 

Bridge, Brooklyn, exhibit at Chi- 
cago Exposition, 166; com- 
panies, graduates connected 
with, 171. 

Bridges, built by graduates, 171; 
early, 78-9. 



261 



262 



INDEX 



Brinsmade, Dr. Thomas C, 107, 
189. 

Brooklyn Bridge, exhibit at Chi- 
cago Exposition, 166. 

Brunelleschi, 74. 

Buel, David, 84. 

Buildings in 1914, 122, 176-7. 

Bulletins, R. P. I., 160-1, 187-8. 

Burr, Theodore, early bridges of, 
78. 

Caldwell, James H., 149. 

Campus, 113, 121-2. 

Canal, Schuylkill, Erie, Cham- 
plain, 75. 

Canfield, early bridges of, 78. 

Cannon, Le Grand B., 173. 

Carnegie Building, 120, 122, 161, 
175, 177, 188. 

Carnegie Foundation, 154. 

Carpenter Shop, 177. 

Catalogues and Registers, 159-61, 
185-8. 

Central R. P. I. Association, 156, 
190. 

Champlain Canal, 75. 

Chemical Engineering, course in, 
144, Appendix II, 181. 

Chemical Laboratory, 109, 124- 

5. 177- 

Chemistry, early study of in the 
United States, 2; Instructors in 
1824-1914, Appendix IX. 

Chester, Rev. John, 66. 

Chi Phi Fraternity, 162. 

Chicago Exposition, 166; R. P. I. 
Association, 156. 

Chief Engineers who have gradu- 
ated, 171. 

Civil Engineer, degree of, 82, 168. 

Civil Engineering, about 1800, 71- 
8; curriculum of 1854, Appendix 
II; curriculum of 1914, Appen- 
dix II; first class graduated, 82; 
first curriculum, 80; first pros- 
pectus, 83; Instructors in 1824- 
1914, Appendix IX; number of 
degrees conferred, 168; qualifi- 
cations for degree in 1838, Ap- 
pendix I; schedule of course in 
1854, Appendix II; term first 
used in circulars, 80; general 
references, 73-4, 96, 1 10, 138- 
9, 180-1. 

Class of each graduate, Appendix 
Xi 



Clement, William, 82. 

Clermont, steamboat, 75. 

Cleveland, R. P. I. Alumni Asso- 
ciation, 156. 

Club House, 123, 127-8, 152, 177. 

Cluett, George B., gifts of, 176. 

Coat of arms, 167. 

Cogswell, William B., 169. 

Colles, Christopher, early steam 
engine, 77. 

Collingwood, Francis, 116. 

Columbia College, botany taught 
early in, i. 

Columbian Exposition, 166. 

Commencement number of Bulle- 
tin, 161, 188. 

Constitution of Rensselaer School, 

35, 185-. 

Contributions of Stephen Van 
Rensselaer, 69. 

Cook, George H., 92. 

Cooper, Theodore, American Rail- 
road Bridges, 79. 

County students in 1828, 62, 65. 

Courses compared, 181. See Ap- 
pendix II. 

Cramer, John, 10, 37. 

Cromwell, James, III. 

Cuban R. P. I. Alumni Associa- 
tion, 156. 

Curriculum of 1826, 39; of the 
first few years, 44-50; of 183 1-2, 
66; of 1835, 83-4. 

Curriculums of 1854 and 1914, 
Appendix II; of graduate cour- 
ses, 144-5- 

Dartmouth College, early instruc- 
tion in science in, i. 

Davison, George S., 148. 

De Forest, Robert W., 134, 140. 

Degree, conferred in 1826, 41-2; 
taken by each graduate. Ap- 
pendix X; honorary, 168-9. 

Degrees, conferred, 41-2, 82, 86, 
96, 168. 

Delta Kappa Epsilon Fraternity, 
162. 

Delta Phi Fraternity, 162. 

Delta Tau Delta Fraternity, 162. 

Descriptive Geometry, Instruc- 
tors in 1824-1914, Appendix IX. 

De Witt, Simeon, 10, 37. 

Dias, Luiz da R., 168. 

Dickinson, College, science taught 
early in, 2; John D., 10, 37. 



INDEX 



263 



Diplomas for exhibits at World's 
Fairs, i66. 

Director, Charles Drowne be- 
comes, io6; Dr. Beman becomes, 
107; names of 1847-1914, Ap- 
pendix IX; office of, created, 
94, 102. 

Discipline in 1835, 69-70. 

District branches established, 
60-1. 

Divisions, classes called, 96, 104, 
181. 

Doctors' degrees in 1913, 145. 

Donations, 114, 116-119, 121-2, 
124-8, 134-5, 147-51, 161, 
172-6. 

Dormitory, 127, 177. 

Drake, Tracy C, 150, 156. 

Drawing as taught in 19 14, I So; 
Instructors in 1824-1914, Ap- 
pendix IX. 

Drowne, Charles, 106, 112, 173, 
189. 

Dublin University, School of En- 
gineering, 73. 

Durfee, Rev. Calvin, sketch of 
Eaton's life, 27. 

Dutton, Clarence E., 189. 

Eaton, Amos, appointed Senior 
Professor, 11 ; Life of, 21-30; 
opinion on education of women, 
63-4; school farmed out to, 65; 
general references, 43, 51-2, 

, 59, 84, 87, 92, III. 

Ecole, Centrale, 73, 96-7; des 
Fonts et Chaussees, 72; Poly- 
technique, 72, 96-7. 

Eddy, Jacob, 82. 

Edinburgh, Engineering School in 
University of, 73. 

Education, scientific, at begin- 
ning of nineteenth century, i. 

Edwards, Jonathan, 189. 

Eighty-seven gymnasium, 124, 126, 
150-1, 161, 177, 188. 

Eighty-six athletic field, 122, 128, 
149. 

Elderhorst, William, iii. 

Electrical Laboratory in 1900, 
114; in 1909, 115, 140-1, 180. 

Electrical Engineering, compari- 
son with other courses, 182; 
courses in, 137-40; degrees con- 
ferred, 168; instructors in 1901- 
14, Appendix IX. 



Electrochemistry, instructors in, 

1908-14, Appendix IX. 
Elliott, A. R., 157. 
Emmons, Ebenezer, 84. 
Endowment fund, 116, 174-6. 
Engineering in 1 800-1 825, 73-9; 

schools in Europe, 71-3. 
Engineering and Science Series, 

publications, 161. 
English, instructors in 1855-1914, 

Appendix IX. 
Erie Canal, 75. 
Europe, early scientific schools in, 

71-3- 
Evans, Oliver, early steam-engine, 

77; Myron E., 127. 
Examination paper of 1836, 87, 

Appendix I. 
Examinations in 1914, 179. 
Excursions, geological in 1827, 

59; to other States in 1830, 60; 

general references, 80, 1 00. 
Expenses in 1826, 33, 43, 57; in 

1830, 60. 
Expositions, awards at, 166. 

Faculty, names of 1 824-1914, Ap- 
pendix IX; resolutions regard- 
ing new courses, 137-8. 

Fellenberg, methods of, 10, 51-3. 

Ferris, G. W. G., wheel at Chicago 
Exposition, 166. 

Filer, A. B., bequest of, 176. 

Finley, early bridges of, 78. 

Fire, of 1862, 108, 173; in Chemi- 
cal Laboratory, 109; in Main 
Building, 108, 120. 

First exercises of the school, 32. 

Fisher, Charles H., 168; Otis, ill. 

Flotilla of Rensselaer School in 
1830, 59, 186. 

Forsyth, James, becomes Presi- 
dent, 107; death of, 119. 

Fossils, presented by the Legisla- 
ture, 173. 

Fourneyron turbines, 76. 

Francis, remarks on water wheels, 
76. 

Franklin Institute established, 3. 

Fraternities, 157, 161-2. 

Fraternity houses, 162. 

Freiberg, Mining School at, 72. 

French, instructors in 1852-1914, 
Appendix IX; Polytechnic 
Schools, 72-3. 

Fulton, steamboat Clermont, 75. 



264 



INDEX 



Gale, E. Thompson, ii6, 189. 

Gardiner Lyceum, 6-8. 

General Electric Company, 114. 

General Science, 104-5, no, 144, 
181-2. 

Geodesy, Instructors in 1824- 
1914, Appendix IX. 

Geographical distribution of stu- 
dents, 183. 

Geographical Index in Registers 
and Catalogues, 159-60. 

Geological, excursions in 1827, 59; 
specimens, 117, 149. 

Geology, Instructors in 1824- 
1914, Appendix IX. 

Georgia, early science in Univer- 
sity of, 2. 

German, Instructors in 1824- 
1914, Appendix IX; Polytech- 
nic Schools, 72-3. 

Glasgow University Engineering 
School, 73. 

Glee CIuId, 165. 

Graduate courses, 144-5. 

Graduates, alphabetical list of. 
Appendix X; associations of, 
156, 190; number of. Appendix 
VIII, Appendix X, 259; per- 
centage of, 169; work of, 1 70-1. 

Graff, Frederick, on early engines, 

77- 

Grand Marshals, 129, 132, Appen- 
dix III. 

Grand Prize at Paris Exposition, 
166. 

Gray, Charles Osborn, iii. 

Great Britain, scientific schools in, 

73- 

Great Western, crosses the Atlan- 
tic, 76. 

Green, P. H., 83. 

Greenbush, act relating to re- 
moval to, 67-8. 

Greene, B. Franklin, 93-6, 106, 
155, I73> 187, 189; Arthur M., 
140; Dascom, 120; David M., 
112, 120. 

Griswold, John A., 188. 

Gurley, William, 119; William F., 
149. 

Gymnasium, on Broadway, 118-9, 
174, 177; of class of '87, 119, 
124, 126, 150-1, 161, 177. 

Hale, Benjamin, establishes Gar- 
diner Lyceum, 6, 7; Moses, 11. 



Hall, James, tribute to Eaton, 30; 
general references, 84, 117; 
Richard, bequest of, 176. 

Handbook, 157-8; of Information, 
160, 187, 190. 

Harper, Albert M., iii. 

Hart, Richard P., 37, 117; Mrs. 
Mary Elizabeth, 1 16-17; Wil- 
liam Howard, Chair of Mechan- 
ics, 1 16-17. 

Harvard College, Chemical Labor- 
atory, 3; early instruction in 
science in, i. 

Henry, P. W., 150. 

Hobart College, early instruction 
in science in, 2. 

Hockey Rink, 131, 177. 

Hodge, Henry W., 127. 

Holley, Alexander L., 153, 189; 
O. L., 11: 

Holmes, Thomas W., bequest of, 
176. 

Hane, F. de P., 127. 

Honorary degrees conferred, 168-9. 

Hours of instruction, courses com- 
pared, 139. 

Howe, bridge patent, 78. 

Hunt, Captain R. W., 122. 

Hydraulics, Instructors in 1914, 
Appendix IX. 

Hygiene, Instructors in 1912-14, 
Appendix IX. 

Incas Iron Company, 175-6. 

Incorporation, Act of, 35. 

Infant School lot, removal to the, 
91, 172. 

Institute, name changed to Rens- 
selaer, 68; name changed to 
Rensselaer Polytechnic, 94, lOi. 

Instruction, by lectures of stu- 
dents, 66; early, compared with 
other methods, 44, 50; method 
of, outlined by Van Rensselaer, 
12; ordered by first Board of 
Trustees, 31. 

Instructors, names of, 1824-1914, 
Appendix IX. 

Inventory of 1846, 91. 

Jarrett, E. H. and Mrs. E. H., 158. 
Jefferson,Thomas, proposed school 

of, 5- 
Johnston, Stewart, 150-1. 
Judah, A. R., 83. 



INDEX 



265 



Junior Professors, names of and 
assistants to, Appendix IX. 

Kansas City R. P. I. Association, 
156. 

Kay, Edgar B., 190. 

Kellogg, Warren T., 190. 

King's College, London, estab- 
lished, 73. 

Kneass, Strickland, Strickland L. 
and Edwards, 145. 

Knight, Mrs. C. H., 146. 

Konigliche Sachsische Bergaka- 
demie, Freiberg, 72. 

Konigliches Gewerbe Institut, Ber- 
lin, 72. 

Laboratories, 180; in the early 
days, 46-7, 91; electrical and 
testing in 1900, 114; in 1909, 
I15-6; in 1914, Appendix IV. 

Laflin, Louis E., gift of, 161. 

Lancastrian system of instruc- 
tion, 51-2. 

Land, owned by the School, 109, 
113, 121-2. 

Land Surveying, special course, 
104. 

Lane, E. V. Z., 150. 

Law of Contracts, Instructors in 
1875-1914, Appendix IX. 

Lawlor and Haase, architects, 124. 

Lawson, Thomas R., 120. 

Legislature, Acts of, relating to 
School, 35, 67, 81, 89, 101-3, 
I73> 185; total appropriation 
from the, 173. 

Leonardo da Vinci, 74. 

Lewis, N. P., 127. 

Liberal Arts Building Arches, 166. 

Library fund, 152; general refer- 
ences, 91, 152-4. 

Livingston, steamboat Clermont, 

75- 
Lockwood, H. N., 11. 
Locomotives, early, 75. 
Lowell, water-power at, 76. 

Macdonald, Charles, 1 16; Prize 
for theses, 155; successful com- 
petitors for prize. Appendix V. 

Maclean, Professor of Chemistry 
at Princeton, 2. 

Main Building, 108, III, 119, 
120-1. 



Managers of corporations, grad- 
uates who are, 171. 

MandoHn Club, 165. 

Manhattan Water Works, early 
pumping engine, 77. 

Mason College, Birmingham, 73. 

Master of Arts, degree conferred, 
42, 87. 

Master's degree in 1913, 144. 

Mathematical Arts, Department 
of, 81-2,87. 

Mathematics, Instructors in 1824- 
19 14, Appendix IX. 

Mayor of Troy, Trustee ex officio, 
82, 102. 

Mechanical Engineering, course 
in, 105; course abolished, no; 
course re-established, 138-40; 
comparison with other courses, 
181-2; degrees conferred, 168; 
Instructors in, 1907-14, Appen- 
dix IX; laboratory, 141, Ap- 
pendix IV, 181. 

Mechanical Laboratory fund, 174. 

Mechanics, instructed in 1828, 62; 
Instructors, 1824-1914, Appen- 
dix IX; study of in early days, 
50; courses in 19 1 4, Appendix II. 

Medals from World's Fairs, 166. 

Memorial windows. III. 

Memorials to the Legislature, 173, 
189. 

Mental Philosophy, Instructor in, 
Appendix IX. 

Merian, Henry W., III. 

Merrimac River, water-power of, 
76. 

Metallurgy, Instructors in 1867- 
1914, Appendix IX. 

Methods of Instruction, outlined 
by Van Rensselaer, 12; early, 
compared with others, 52; in 
1850, 97-8; in 1914, 178-81. 

Michael Angelo, 74. 

Miller, Athol M., 175-6. 

Mineralogical collections, 117, 
149. 

Mineralogy, Instructors in 1907- 
14, Appendix IX. 

Mining Engineering, schedule of 
course in, 106, Appendix II; 
course abolished, no; degrees 
conferred, 168; school at Frei- 
berg, 72. 

Minutes of Board of Trustees, 
original, 42, 185. 



266 



INDEX 



Models of inventions of graduates, 

1 66. 
Morris, Elwood, 'early turbines, 

76. 
Murray, Edward F., 125. 
Musical clubs, 130, 165. 

Nason, Henry B., 117, 189-90^ 

Natural History, Instructors in. 
Appendix IX. 

Natural Science, curriculum in 
1835, 84; in 1854, Appendix II; 
curriculum in 1914, Appendix 
II; degree of Bachelor of, 82, 
no; general references, 104, 
no, 144, 181. 

New Orleans, exhibit at Fair in, 
166. 

New York, City Alumni Associa- 
tion, 156; population of in 1800 
and 1830, 74. 

North Carolina, University of, 
science early taught in, 2. 

Norwich Academy, 6-8; Univer- 
sity, 6. 

Nott, Rev. Eliphalet, 67-8, 83, 93. 

Number of students and teachers. 
Appendix VIII. 

Oakwood Cemetery, monument to 

Eaton in, in. 
Observatory, Williams Proudfit, 

1 12-14. 
Old Bank Place, 9, 67, 69, 90, 107. 
"Old Rensselaer," song, 158. 
Opening of the School, 32. 
Orchestra, 165. 
Osborn, Frank C, 150. 
Owens College, Manchester, 73. 

Paine, memoir on cast-iron brid- 
ges, 78. 

Palmer, early bridges of, 78. 

Pan-American Exposition, award 
at, 166. 

Paris, Engineering Schools at, 72- 
3; Polytechnic School at, 72; 
Exposition, award at, 166. 

Parliamentary exercises in early 
days, 49. 

Parmalee, Elias, 10, 37. 

Partridge, Captain Alden, School 
at Norwich, 6. 

Pattern-making and Forging, In- 



structors in 1908-14, Appendix 
IX. 

Peck, John H., becomes President, 
119-20. 

Pennsylvania, University of, sci- 
ence early taught in, i, 3, 

Percentage of graduates, 169. 

Percy, James R., in. 

Phalanx, The, student society, 
164. 

Phi Sigma Fraternity, 162. 

Philadelphia water-works, early 
engines at, 77. 

Photographic Reproduction of 
Work of Graduates, 160, 188. 

Physical Culture, 149-52; In- 
structors in 1912-14, Appendix 
IX. 

Physics, Instructors in 1824-1914, 
Appendix IX. 

Pi Eta Scientific Society, 162. 

Pittsburgh, Association of Gradu- 
ates, 156; Building, 113, 118, 
147. I53> ^77^ 188; scholarship, 
146. 

Polytechnic, students' paper, 130, 
157) 190; School at Paris, 72; 
School at Prague, ^2. 

Polytechnisches Institut, Vienna, 

72- . 

Population of United States in 
1800 and 1830, 74; of New 
York, 74; of Troy, 74-5. 

Portraits of Mr. and Mrs. Sage, 

143- 

Potter, Clarkson N., 156. 

Poughkeepsie bridge, exhibit at 
Chicago Exposition, 166. 

Powers, Albert E., 119. 

Prague, Polytechnic School at, 72. 

Preparation Branch, estab- 
lished, 54. 

Preparatory Class, 96, 104. 

Presidents, of Board of Trustees, 
names of, 1824-19 14, Appendix 
IX; Reports of, 190; of Alumni 
Association, 156, Appendix VI; 
of corporations who have been 
graduates, 1 70-1. 

Press Club, 128, 165. 

Princeton College, chemistry early 
taught in, 2, 3. 

Prizes at World's Fairs, 166-7. 

Professors, names of 1824-1914, 
Appendix IX; graduates who 
have become, 171. 



INDEX 



267 



Proudfit, Williams, 112-3; Obser- 
vatory, 1 13-4; Laboratory, 114- 
6, 123, 177, 188. 

Provincial Seminary, used after 
fire of 1862, 108. 

Prudential Committee created, 60. 

Publications, by Trustees, 159-61; 
by students, 156-8. 

Pumping Engines, early, 76-7. 

Qualifications for degree in 1838, 
88, Appendix I. 

Railroad Engineering, as taught 
in 1914, 181; Instructors in, 
1892-1914, Appendix IX. 

Railroads, constructed by gradu- 
ates, 171; early, 75. 

Ranken house, 113, 116, 148. 

Reading Railroad, tunnel on, 77. 

Real Estate, cost of, 12 1-2. 

Rebuilding fund, 175. 

Recorders of Troy, Trustees ex 
officio, 82, 102. 

Regents of the University, 89, 91, 
loi, 145, 173. 

Register, first, 100. 

Registers, 159-60; list of, 187. 

Renaissance, engineers of the, 74. 

Renshaw, A. H., 149. 

Rensselaer Institute, name changed 
to, 68, 89; Polytechnic Insti- 
tute, 94, lOi ; Polytechnic Insti- 
tute Quarterly, 157; School, 7, 
31; Society of Engineers, 157, 
162, 190; Students' Association, 
127; Technical Society, 163; 
Union, 128-31, 157-8; Union 
club-house, 123, 128, 157. 

Repair fund, 174. 

Repeaters, Instructors called, 97. 

Reorganization of 1849-50, 94-7, 
188-9. 

Review period in work of term, 
_I78. 

Ricketts, Palmer C, 120. 

Road through property, 126. 

Robb, W. L., 132, 140. 

Rochester R. P. I. Alumni Associ- 
ation, 156. 

Rod and Leveller, 157. 

Roebling, Charles G., 175; John 
A., 175; Washington A., 175. 

Rothwell, Richard P., 190. 

Royal Indian School of Engineer- 



ing, 73; Institution of Great 
Britain, 4, 13. 

Rumford, London Prospectus of 
Count, 4, 13. 

Russell Sage, 134-5, 143; Mrs. 
Russell Sage, 134-5, I43, I75; 
Russell Sage, 2d, 135; Fellow- 
ship, 146; Laboratory, 115, 124, 
126, 140-3, 177, 188; opening 
of Laboratory, 140, l6l, 188. 

Saint Joseph's Seminary, land 
bought from, 121. 

St. Louis Exposition, 167. 

Savannah crosses the Atlantic, 76. 

Schedules of courses in 1854, 1866, 
and 19 1 4, Appendix II. 

Scholarship, Alfonzo Bills, 146; 
Charles Wiggins, 146; Pitts- 
burgh Alumni Association, 146; 
value of a, 146. 

Scholarships, Institute, 145-6. 

Science, degree of Bachelor of, 96, 
168. 

Scientific education, early, 1-3. 

Schuyler copper mine engines, 77. 

Schuylkill canal, 75. 

Sebast, F. M., 147. 

Secretaries, Board of Trustees, 
1824-19 14, Appendix IX. 

Secretary, first of the School, ir. 

Selected papers, Rensselaer So- 
ciety of Engineers, 157. 

Semi-centennial celebration in 
1874, III, 189. 

Senior Professors, names of, 1824- 
1860, Appendix IX; general ref- 
erences, II, 92-3, 106. 

Sessions, number in year, 177-8. 

Shop, the, 109, 177; work, 181. 

Sigma Xi Society, 162. 

Silliman Professor in Yale College, 
2; Instructor of Eaton, 23, 25. 

Sirius crosses the Atlantic, 76. 

Slocum, Hiram, 189. 

Smalley, D. S., 84. 

Smeaton, 74. 

Smith, Jesse M., 140. 

Societies, 161-4. 

Songbook, 158. 

Soho Works, early engines at, JJ, 

Soper, G. A., 127. 

South Carolina, Exposition, 166- 
7; University of, 2. 

Spanish Bulletin, 161, 190. 

Special Course in Land Surveying, 
104. 



268 



INDEX 



State Bank Building, recitations 
in, 120. 

Stearns, Irving A., 190. 

Steam, engines in early days, 75- 
7; Engine, Instructors in, 1878- 
1914, Appendix IX; Maviga- 
tion, early, 75-6. 

Stillwell, Lewis B., 140. 

Students, number in 1826, 43; in 
1826-34, 69; in 1839-43, 92; in 
1848, loi; in 1855, 101-2; in 
each department and class, 
1914, AppendixVIII ; total num- 
ber and distribution of, 169, Ap- 
pendix VIII; clubs, 164-5; 
Council, 163-4. 

Suffern, Edward, 82, 84. 

Summer courses, 180-1. 

Superintendents, graduates who 
have been, 171. 

Surveying taught in 1914, 180. 



Tau Beta Pi, 162. 

Teachers, names of 1 824-19 14, 
Appendix IX; number of, Ap- 
pendix VIII. 

Technische Bohmische Standische 
Lehranstalt, 72. 

Templeman, early bridges of, 78. 

Terms, number in scholastic year, 
177. 

Testing Laboratory in 1900, 114; 
in 1904, 115; in 1909, 115-6, 
142-3. 

Text-books used in 1854, 99. 

Theses, graduating, 181; Macdon- 
ald Prize, 155; summer, 181. 

Theta, Chi Fraternity, 162; Delta 
Chi Fraternity, 161; Xi Fra- 
ternity, 162. 

Thompson, John I., bequest of, 
176. 

Tibbits, John B., 173, 187, 189. 

Tillinghast, Mrs. C. W., gateway, 
126-7. 

Topographical, drawing as taught 
in 19 14, 180; Engineer, degrees 
conferred, 168; engineering, 103- 
5; surveying, 180. 

Town, bridge patent, 78. 

Tracy, Jedediah, 10. 

Transit, students' publication, 
157, 189. 

Travelling tours, 59-60, 80. 

Treasurer, first of the School, II. 



Treasurers, 1824-1914, Appendix 
IX. 

Trinity College, Dublin Univer- 
sity, 73. 

Troy, Academy, 89, 119; popula- 
tion of in 1800 and 1830, 74-5; 
Sentinel, announcement of open- 
ing of the School, 31-2; Hospi- 
tal, land bought from, 121. 

Trumbull, early bridge of, 79. 

Trustees, first appointed, 10, 11, 
37; limitations of residence, 38; 
minutes of Board of, 185; names 
of, 1824-1914, Appendix IX; 
general references, 82, 102-03. 

Tuition in 1826, 31, 42-3; in later 
years, 102, 130, 152. 

Tunnels, first in United States, 77. 

Turbines, early, 76. 

Uniform of students in 1850-54, 

lOI. 

Union College, Physics early 
taught in, i ; President Nott of, 

6.7- 

United States, population of in 
1800 and 1830, 74. 

University, Building used after 
fire in 1862, 108; College, Lon- 
don, 73; of Edinburgh, Engin- 
eering department, 73; of Glas- 
gow, School of Engineering, 73; 
of Pennsylvania, early teaching 
of science in, 2, 3. 

Vail, Building, used after the fire 
of 1862, 108; D. Thomas, 173, 
187. 

Value of grounds and buildings, 
176-7. 

Value of Institute property. Ap- 
pendix VII. 

Van der Heyden mansion, 68, 90, 
172. 

Van Rensselaer, Stephen, letters 
of, 9, 34, 62, 68; Life of, 15-21; 
general references, 33, 35, 39, 
64-5 67-9, 83, 90, 167, 172; 
William P., 91. 

Van Schoonhoven, Guert, 10, 37. 

Vice Presidents, first appointed, 
1 1 ; graduates who have become, 
171 ; of Board of Trustees, 1824- 
1914, Appendix IX. 

Vienna, Polytechnic Institute at, 
72. 



INDEX 



269 



Walker, Chemical Laboratory, 

125, 177; Mrs. R. J. C, 125, 175. 
Wallace, James P., 116. 
Warner, Harvey, 83. 
Warren, land bought, I2i; Joseph 

M., 109, 176, 189. 
Water, pipes, early, 78; wheels, 

early forms of, 76. 
Watt, 74. 
Wellington, A. M., tribute to Van 

Rensselaer, 20. 
Wernwag, early bridges of, 78. 
Westcott, Amos, 82. 
Westinghouse Electric Company, 

West Point Military Academy, 6, 
8, 72. 

Whipple, early bridge of, 79; Jon- 
athan E., 189. 

Wiggins, Charles, Scholarship, 146 

Wilkins, W. G., 148. 

William and Mary College, Science 
early taught in, 2. 

Williams College, Chemical lab- 



oratory, 3; science early taught 
in, 2 ; Proudfit Observatory, 1 12- 
14; Proudfit Laboratory, 116, 
124, 177. 

Wilson Brothers & Company, 118. 

Winslow, John F., 107; Labora- 
tory, 109, 113, 120-1, 189. 

Women, education of in early 
days, 63-4. 

Wood, De Volson, 190. 

Wool, General John A., bequest 
of, 176. 

Work of graduates, 160, 170-1, 
188, 190. 

World's Fair, prizes at, 166-7. 

Wright, Professor John, 1 11. 

Yale College, chair of chemistry 
established, 2; early instruction 
in science, 2. 

Young Men's Christian Associa- 
tion, 127. 

Zeta Psi Fraternity, 162. 



i 



